


The War of the Stories

by Cade83



Series: Stories Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Multi-Fandom, Original Work
Genre: F/M, I blame it on my younger self writing this, I'm just like rewriting this and making it great again?, OCs - Freeform, This story has too much hetero, crossover fanfiction, ew bad phrasing no trump is the devil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-06-10 00:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 56,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6931060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cade83/pseuds/Cade83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry discovers that Hermione Granger is his long lost twin. As they work together telepathically, they discover from the villains from every story have united under a mysterious leader to destroy the world as they know it as revenge on the heres they lost to in the past. It's up to Henry, Hermione, their friends, and the heroes they meet along the way to defeat these villains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Falling In

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, brief note first- This was something I wrote back in seventh grade, like AGES AGO and I've made it a personal goal to make this story decent, because reading it back, jeez it was awful. If anyone is reading this who read the original, I've changed some major things for continuity, others because they were coming from a seriously emo mind, and other things still just because of personal preference. Well, anyway, hope everyone enjoys!

**2010**

 

Henry Granger closed the book he’d spent the past week reading, and smiled sadly. He laid down on the floor of his bedroom, and putting his book beside him, looks up at the white ceiling. He’d finished it. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For the past three years, he’d put off reading it, almost as if that would put off the end of Harry Potter.

 

Bad idea, of course. The whole thing was spoiled for him after three years. But no one ever said Henry was smart. That role went to his imaginary friend, Hemmy. 

 

Hemmy had been around for as long as Henry could remember. His parents had said Hemmy was there because Henry didn’t have a sibling to play with, but by the age of 6, they started to tell him Hemmy wasn’t real. So Henry stopped talking about her.

 

Now, she was his secret. It was Henry and Hemmy, the two Hs, together through every up and down.

 

Henry took a while to process what he’d just read and the fact that it’s all over before Hemmy invaded his mind with shouting, as she always did.

 

_“Henry!”_ Hemmy shrieked in his head. _“We don’t have time for this, you KNOW that Mrs. O loves to throw those division quizzes at you!”_

 

Henry sat up, and shook his head. _“Hemmy, let me get over this!”_

 

_“Fine then. But when you fail, it’s on you, I tried.”_ Henry could tell by the emotion coming with the thought that Hemmy was irritated. 

 

Henry’s mom called him to dinner at just the right moment, and Henry had a reason to ignore Hemmy. He walked into into his Southwest style kitchen and grabbed a bowl of soap from the counter. Henry sat at the wooden table, across from his mom. He scooted the comics across the table to bury his face in, somehow getting the feeling that his mom knew he was talking to Hemmy again and knowing she wouldn’t approve.

 

Henry scanned the comics as he quickly shoveled soup into his mouth, his parents chattering away about something called real estate. He came across a comic strip, one where a teen girl was going to prom with her imaginary friend, and the black and white lines that represented the laughter of the rest of her class, her friends, everyone around her, really struck Henry.

 

Henry looked up from the comics to glance out the window at the house across the street, and thought for a second.

 

He’d be there soon. He was 10 now, and he knew that he shouldn’t have imaginary friends anymore. His mom always told him that, and it was just as his dad always told him. He had to grow up, and become something, something he and his whole family could be proud of.

 

Then and there, Henry decided to cut Hemmy off. 

 

**September 26, 2013**

 

Henry was 13, and he hadn’t thought about Hemmy in ages. Fifth grade was so far behind him now that he only had one friend left from then. And then at the end of this year, he was moving on to high school. And from what he’d heard, nothing was the same in high school.

 

Henry was working with this ginger kid, Alex, and Alex’s friend, brown haired Zak, on a project for English. It was a group essay on the corrupt government in the Hunger Games, why it could have been seen as a good thing to establish, and what effect it had on the country. 

 

“Okay,” Alex said. “Whatever happened before this- it had to have been bad, right? Why else would this have happened?”

 

“Maybe Snow’s ancestors were just really manipulative and convincing,” Zak yawned. 

 

“Zak!” Alex hissed. “This is due in a week, we have to get this done! I am not writing a whole essay for you again.”

 

Henry ignored their banter. “Well, this obviously had a negative effect on the country. They probably went through a lot after Katniss took down Snow.”

 

Alex nodded. “Yeah, yeah.”

 

Alex scribbled some notes down on their planning page, and the group lapsed into silence. Henry zoned out, listening to other people’s presentations about who kissed who in the locker room, what’s for lunch, the latest hot celebrity… and… and... wait a minute. He knew that voice.

 

Henry glanced around the room quickly, and seeing no one he knew, turned back to the project.

 

“Excuse me? The attention is here, Henry. We need to get this project done,” Alex snapped.

 

Zak snorted, and Alex shot him a glare.

 

Henry shook his head. “Yeah, sorry. Just thought I…” Seeing that Alex didn’t care, Henry didn’t bother to finish his thought.

 

Alex rolled his eyes and turned to Zak. “Come on Zak. I need to be the best in the school. Help me out here.”

 

“I did! Jeez Alex, back off. I had a rough morning. Woke up at four, and look,” Zak showed Alex a burn he’d hidden under a long sleeve shirt. “Little tip, don’t try to cook at four in the morning.”

 

Henry shook his head in disbelief, and then heard the voice again. _“Are you… still… there?”_

 

Henry tried to think of where'd he'd heard that voice before while Alex was distracted by Zak’s burn. It came to him suddenly when his eyes fell on a poster making a joke about english being better than division. Hemmy. What? He couldn’t believe it, knowing that he couldn’t be right. She was imaginary. He'd forgotten about her. Right?

 

He heard it again. _“This is ridiculous, come on. I’d sworn I was going to stop talking to Henry three years ago! And then I hoped that would stop me from believing in him!”_

 

Henry was completely floored, and his face showed it too. He knows- or no, he thinks Hemmy isn’t real. She can’t be. But then why, after three years?

 

Alex waved his hand in front of Henry’s face, knocking him out of his thoughts. “Henry?”

 

“Sorry,” Henry apologized again. 

 

“At least Zak has a decent excuse,” Alex sighed. “But I swear, you two are completely useless.”

 

Zak grinned at Henry sheepishly, and Henry smiled back, a gesture that probably came across as a grimace.

 

Alex went back to scribbling down more notes for their essay, an essay Henry knew Alex was going to write himself even if he and Zak helped. Alex was known an overachiever, and couldn’t deal with anything less then perfect.

 

Henry pushed Hemmy into the back of his mind for the time being, and helped Alex and Zak with the essay, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, but also knowing Alex was the type to complain to the teacher.

 

The bell rang, and Henry breathed a sigh of relief. The day was over, he could now deal with whatever that voice he heard was earlier. He didn’t bother to wait for any of his usual friends, and walked right to his mom’s car, and the only word he said to her was hello.

 

Hemmy being a thing had driven Henry completely up the wall. It was the kind of thing that made him distant and moody all day. He blocked her out for a reason, he couldn’t have an imaginary friend. That was part of growing up. And he knew that imaginary friends definitely weren't supposed to contact you years later.

 

The earth tones of adobe houses and the occasional shrub flash past Henry’s vision as he stared out the window and remembered for the millionth that he lived in a desert called New Mexico that was 49th in education in the United States. And a small town like the Bentley Henry lived in definitely wasn't helping.

 

Even though Alex tries, he wasn't going to achieve anything living in this dead end, dried out piece of sand.

 

Henry’s mom pulled up to their house, a decently sized adobe house, just like everything else in Bentley, New Mexico. The yard was shrubs and dirt, and one sad looking tree that died every year in the snow, yet somehow came back the next year in the spring, even wimpier looking then before.

 

His mom opened the garage door, and carefully directed the car in. She parks, and gets out quickly to make a business call to a client.

 

“If you need me, wait an hour or two, okay?” she shouted after her as she ran inside.

 

Henry didn’t mind. It’s perfect for seeing if Hemmy is a thing, definitely not the kind of thing he’d want his mom to know about. 

 

He grabbed his backpack from the floor of the car, and walked inside. He headed to his room, and sets up homework on his desk in case his mom walks in. He had to look like he was doing something. Henry lied down on the floor, and looked up at the same ceiling he looked up at three years ago on the day he decided to block Hemmy out.

 

It now had two plastic hot air balloon souvenirs from the yearly Balloon Fiesta, one of the few things New Mexico had going for it, in Henry’s opinion.

 

_“Hemmy?”_ Henry thinks out. 

 

The response was almost instant. _“Henry? Is that you?”_

 

_“Yes! It is! You’re real, Hemmy?”_

 

The next response was delayed. _“Me? Real? Of course. But you?” You’re real?” You exist?”_

 

Henry was shocked. Him? Existing? Of course he exists. _“Uh, yeah? Of course I exist.”_

 

_“Seriously?”_

 

_“Yeah, seriously Hemmy.”_

 

_“Wow- that is just- that’s so cool! I knew I wasn’t wrong! Everyone kept on telling me you were imaginary, and I couldn’t believe it. I listened eventually, but… Oh, and it’s Hermione, by the way. Not Hemmy.”_

 

Henry’s mouth actually dropped open. _“Hermione? Like- the Hermione Granger?”_

 

_“Yeah. I’m Hermione Granger. Not sure about the ‘the’ though.”_

 

_“Like Harry Potter and the etc. Hermione Granger. You know. The book series. All seven. The eight movies.”_

 

_“Wait, what? I’m in a book? Movies?”_

 

_"Yeah, you're supposed to be in the 1990s, but_ _apparently, that isn't a thing."_

 

_"The 1990s? That's completely incomprehensible! They didn't have nice computers or phones or really any modern conveniences."_

 

Henry found himself nodding even though Hermione wasn’t there. _“Well, I always thought it was funny I had the same last name as Hermione while reading- or well, you.”_

 

_“Hang on, I’ve gotta look into this. I’ll talk to you later Henry. Ha, feels so weird saying that again.”_ Hermione laughed.

 

Henry climbed up from the floor, and smiled. He’d just reconnected with his childhood surprisingly not imaginary friend- who happened to be the Hermione Granger.

 

**1 Week Later**

 

After a week, Henry and Hermione had completely caught up with each other. Hermione explained all of her adventures on her quest to find the philosopher’s stone, from the key room, the chess board, to the potions and the three headed dog.

 

Henry’s stories paled in comparison, consisting of the basic muggle education he was receiving and whatever friend drama had happened in the past three years.

 

Henry waited on the floor of his bedroom for Hermione to get back from the Hogwarts Library with some books on what their connection could possibly be, both of his parents out grocery shopping.

 

_“You will not believe what I’ve just found Henry,”_ Hermione thought excitedly. _“So, I went digging, and I found a book that mentions this connection, the Germinus Contenico. It described exactly what we had, the only issue was we needed to be twins.”_

 

_“Were you thinking what I’m thinking?”_

 

_“I think so, we have the same name last name, right? So I found this genealogy book. I found myself, Hermione Granger, September 19th, right? Then, later in, to the same parents, Henry Granger.”_

 

_“Okay, but… That would mean we have the same parents. And we’ve been raised by different people,”_ Henry thinks, concerned.

 

_“Yeah… sorry Henry. You’re adopted.”_

 

Henry recoiled, and took a deep breath. That’s a blow. Why couldn’t his parents tell him? Why adopt a kid from England?

 

_“Are you alright Henry? That’s a pretty massive shock…”_ Hermione thinks.

 

_“Yeah… yeah, I’ll get over it. Eventually.”_

 

Hermione sent a mental hug, and Henry smiled despite of himself.

 

_“There’s more, by the way,”_ Hermione said.

 

_“Go ahead. I’ll be alright,”_ Henry lies.

 

Henry gets the feeling that Hermione picked up on his lie, but she goes on anyway. _“So. Our connection, the Germinus Contenico. It only happens when twins, a witch or wizard, and a muggle reach the age of seven before the world faces a great turning point. The Black Plague was one, so was the fall of the Roman Empire.”_

 

_“You serious? That’s- that’s us you’re talking about there.”_

 

_“I can hardly believe it myself! Anyway, this connection, it’s uncommon, to say the least. And the world facing a turning point now in the 21st century… That worries me.”_

 

_“Same here, Hermione,”_ Henry thinks back. _“After doing that essay on the Hunger Games in class, I can’t help but fear that’s what going to happen, some corrupt government.”_

 

_“Well, thats our job! Stopping that!”_

 

Just then, Henry’s dad knocked on his bedroom door. Henry quickly gets up off the floor, and opens it. 

 

“Dinner time,” Henry’s dad said, looking around the room. “What were you even doing in here?” he laughed.

 

“I fell asleep on the floor, honestly,” Henry shruged, judging his dad for not telling him he was adopted.

 

Henry’s dad nodded. “Long day, huh?”

 

Henry nodded, and his dad smiled and left the room.

 

_“I’ll be back later,”_ Henry thinks to Hermione. _“Keep on researching.”_

 

_“Okay, enjoy your dinner. And again, I’m so, so sorry for ruining your relationship with your parents…”_ Hermione thinks back.

 

_“It’s whatever.”_

 

With that, Henry went to dinner. He walked out into the kitchen, put the fillings he wanted in a quesadilla, and headed into the living room where his parents are seated on their battered brown couches. 

 

Henry’s parents switch on a drama where the main character is creeping down a long, creepily lit hallway, clutching a gun. He watches, mesmerized. Then it struck him. Hermione was real, and she’s in a story book. What if… What if all stories were real?

 

He finished his dinner quickly, and once the show is over, Henry went back into his bedroom, and laid down in his bed.

 

_“Hermione. I had a thought. You’re real, and you’re from a storybook. What if all stories are real?”_

 

Hermione responded quickly, as usual. _“That’s funny, I was thinking the same thing. So I dug into the library, looking up Alice in Wonderland. And sure enough, there’s a girl in the 1800s who babbled nonsense about talking caterpillars, and was eventually carted off to an asylum. But not before someone wrote down her story.”_

 

_“Do you have any idea what this means?”_

 

_“They’re all real. The good-“_

 

_“-and the bad.”_

 

The two of them pause for a second.

 

_“I’ve gotta tell someone. I’m going to talk to Professor McGonagall. She’ll know what to do.”_

 

_“Okay. Go ahead.”_

 

At Hogwarts, Hermione picked up the thick blue book on Alices, and returned it to the librarian’s desk. The librarian shot Hermione a suspicious look from behind the mounds of books on her desk, but didn’t say anything as she left the room.

 

Hermione headed down the hallway, and took a secret passage behind a portrait to reach the hallway McGonagall’s office was in.

 

Hermione ran into Harry and Ron on her way down the corridor.

 

“Hey Harry, Ron.” Hermione smiled.

 

“Hermione!” Ron exclaimed. “You need to stop spending so much time in the library, I’m failing divination.”

 

“You know what I think of that subject Ron.” Hermione sighed.

 

“Please Hermione.” Harry begged.

 

“You know that woman likes anything dark and gloomy, make something up.” 

 

Harry nodded slowly. “You know… that’s genius Hermione. Will do.”

 

Hermione smiled, and tried to move past them.

 

“Hey Hermione, where are you headed? Come back to the tower with us.” Ron asked.

 

“McGonagall’s office. Girl problems,” Hermione smiled wickedly. 

 

“Woah, woah,” Ron said.

 

“We’ll back off,” Harry says quickly, and the two hurried away.

 

Hermione shook her head. Boys.

 

She moved further down the hall, and pushed open the door to Professor McGonagall’s office. 

 

“Professor?” Hermione called out.

 

“Hermione? What is it?” Professor McGonagall says.

 

Hermione stepped into the office, and smiled at Professor McGonagall, who looked like she was struggling to stay awake as she graded papers.

 

“I have something to tell you, and it’s quite a story. You might want to make a pot of tea.” Hermione said, sitting down in front of Professor McGonagall’s desk.


	2. Leaving Home

“Hermione,” someone said, shaking Hermione’s shoulder.

 

Hermione groaned, and rolled away so she was on the furthest side of the bed. She then slammed her pillow over her head, determined to get a few minutes more sleep.

 

“Hermione!” they hissed, and Hermione snapped fully awake. She lifted the pillow off her head, and rolled back over in her bed to look at who was waking her up.

 

“Professor?” Hermione whispered, seeing Professor McGonagall standing there in a tartan night gown.

 

Professor McGonagall gestured for Hermione to get out of bed, and Hermione did so after a moment of hesitation. The two walked down to the Gryffindor common room and take a seat on a red sofa. It's then that Hermione is finally able to see the concern in Professor McGonagall’s eyes in the flickering glow from the fire in the fireplace.

 

“What’s wrong, Professor?” Hermione asked.

 

“I was grading papers when I got this letter. A warning. Relating to what you and Henry told me about,” Professor McGonagall said, shakily holding up a piece of paper that was burnt at the edges.

 

Hermione reached up to take it, but Professor McGonagall moved it back.

 

“No. You’ve got to contact Henry, and get him here. I worry that we’re all in very serious danger.”

 

At Northridge Middle School, Henry was walking down the hall of his middle school with his friend Greg, a guy with short brown hair and square glasses.

 

Greg pointed out a girl with shorts so short they were barely even there who was digging into her locker. “See her? That’s the first sign of prostitution.”

 

Henry rolled his eyes. “Remind me why I’m friends with you again?”

 

Greg shrugged. “It’s because I’m amazing. No one get enough of this.”

 

“Yeah, no,” Henry laughed. “Bye Greg.”

 

Greg waved as Henry ducked into his math class and sat next to another friend, Olivia, a girl with lengthy light blonde hair and bold brown eyes.

 

“You ready to be confused?” Olivia said as the bell rang.

 

“Totally,” Henry nodded as the teacher shut the door and turned off the lights.

 

The teacher pulled up some practice trigonometry problems on the board, and Henry turned to Olivia, desperate.

 

“You remember any of this?” Henry pleaded.

 

“Nope. Paris and Alex aren’t here, so we're all doomed.”

 

Henry sighed and got up to grab two class calculators for the two of them. He moved back to the desk, and pushed buttons, hoping that one would work and somehow give him the answer.

 

Just then, Hermione contacted him.

 

_“Henry, I don’t know what’s going on, but Professor McGonagall says we need to get you here to Hogwarts ASAP.”_

 

_“But why?”_ Henry thought back, confused.

 

_“I have no idea. Just- just get here okay? I’ll help you work something out.”_

 

Henry’s communication with Hermione was cut off when the teacher called on him to do the first problem on the board. 

 

“Uh, sorry m’am,” Henry grimaced. “I-I don’t know how to do this.”

 

The teacher sighed and moved on to the next student.

 

Olivia gestured at her paper. “Come on Henry, get your damn head in the game. I have all the answers right here, I googled it.”

 

Henry grinned. “You’re such a High School Musical nerd.”

 

“We all are. It’s the movie of our generation.”

 

The rest of the day passed by in a whirl, and before Henry knew it, he was back at home. He headed to his room, and put his history textbook on his desk which he opened to a random page.

 

He sat down in his desk chair, and leaned back, zoning out.

 

_“Okay Hermione, what’s the plan?”_

 

It’s a good minute before Hermione replied. _“I’ve been researching since your math class this morning, and get this- you can work magic.”_

 

_“What?”_

 

_“Well, no, not really. You can use my powers to use magic, you don’t have any of your own. So here’s the plan. We’re going to hide your family away, and make sure they don’t notice you’re gone, and then we’ve got to come up with a plan to get you out of that school unnoticed.”_

 

_“Okay, let’s do it.”_

 

The rest of the evening passed by, Henry and Hermione practicing intensively. In the process, Henry knocked over his desk, set fire to his homework, something he quickly put out with some water magic, and summoned coffee to his desk.

 

_“This is the tough part. We’ve got to put your parents into a deep sleep.”_ Hermione said.

 

_“Like Maleficent induced deep sleep?”_ Henry asked.

 

_“Yeah, exactly like that. They won’t worry about your disappearance if they’re asleep. The only issue will be their jobs, but you can wake them up when this is all over, and we can figure out to plant false memories or something.”_

 

Henry winced. 

 

_“Okay, this is going to sound just awful, but they’re not even you’re real parents, Henry!”_

 

_“They raised me, Hermione.”_

 

_“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m doing the same to my parents. I can’t risk them for anything, especially if the fear in Professor McGonagall’s eyes is anything to go by.”_

 

_“Okay, okay, Hermione. Let’s get this over with.”_

 

Henry pushed open his bedroom door, and headed down the short hallway to the living room. 

 

His parents were watching a reality tv show, harshly criticizing the contestant’s choices.

 

“Oh, come on! You don’t do that!” Henry’s dad shouted.

 

“Karma’s going to come and get him back.” His mom said, shaking her head.

 

Henry closed his eyes, and put his hands out in front of him, palms outstretched. He heard Hermione think some strange words through their link, then there’s a bright white flash. The tv flickered, and his parents both slumped over, asleep.

 

“I cannot believe that worked.” Henry said sadly.

 

_“It’s going to be okay Henry. Throw some blankets on them.”_

 

Henry nodded, and went back into the hallway he’d come from. He opened up the door to the linen closet and pulled out two blankets before heading back to the living room. He carefully moved his mom and dad so they were stretched out across the couch they were on, and he put the blankets over them.

 

Henry looked at them, his mom’s dark brown hair splayed out across her face, his dad’s greying hair for once not neatly combed. They almost looked to be at peace. He grabbed the remote from the couch his dad was lying on, and switched the TV off.

 

He placed it down on the coffee table, smiled sadly, then switched off the light before heading back to his room. Henry jumped into his bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas. He didn’t feel emotionally up to it.

 

The next morning, Henry woke up to Hermione’s voice echoing in his head.

 

_“You need to get up like NOW Henry, your school starts in a half hour.”_

 

Henry shook his head vigorously to wake himself up. “ _Thanks Hermione.”_

 

He jumped into the shower, and after five minutes he got out and headed back into his room. He opened his closet, and pulled out the first two things in his closet, a white t-shirt advertising San Francisco, and some ripped jeans.

 

Henry dashed into the kitchen, threw some toast in the toaster, and hurried back to his bedroom, grabbing some socks, and some white tennis shoes which he quickly threw on. He ducked into the bathroom across the hall from his bedroom, and quickly ran a hand through his messy brown hair. No time to comb it.

 

He made a face at himself in the mirror, frowning widely and making his brown eyes huge. Henry quickly brushed his teeth, and flashed himself a thumbs up. Now for the backpack. Back in his room, Henry threw his history book back into his backpack, which he then scooped off the floor.

 

Henry patted his parents on the head as he passed them on his way to the kitchen, grabbed his toast as it leaped out of the toaster, and headed out the front door. Slamming it behind him, he turned to face the house, his toast in-between his teeth.

 

_“Okay Hermione, let’s hide this place.”_

 

He felt Hermione agree, and Henry raised his hands. His palms glowed white as he raised his arms above his head, and there’s a brief white flash as his house disappears, leaving nothing put a patch of dirt.

 

“You teens need to stop taking selfies all the time!” the old man next door shouted loudly from where he’d probably seen the flash through his curtains.

 

Henry doesn’t say anything, but he shook his head. Everyone knew a selfie didn’t involve a flash. He then ran to school. 

 

Northridge Middle School was a moderately sized building at the end of a long street, a brick building built about 30 years ago. It had few windows, most of them being the front doors that led into the lobby and the cafeteria, two rooms that overlooked the large cement area students gathered in in the morning. The school has little plant life, with a few sad looking trees planted in the middle of the cement area, and the field in the back was patched and frequently being replaced.

 

Everyone was already heading inside by the time Henry got there, and he had no time to say hello to any of his friends. He walked past the statue of a coyote in the middle of the lobby, the school mascot. 

 

Henry hurried into home room and took his seat at the back of the room, a seat he usually has at the same table as Olivia, Greg, and one other friend. Olivia doesn’t make it in before the bell rings, so he assumes she’s running late. Greg’s chatting away to a girl with short brown hair, Marya. 

 

“…and this is why we didn’t invite you with us to McDonalds with us when we went last weekend. You can’t appreciate the magic of chicken mcnuggies.” Marya said.

 

“They’re not even chicken!” Greg exclaimed.

 

Marya shot Greg a look that obviously means who cares.

 

The teacher then quieted the class, and started taking attendance. 

 

“Henry?”

 

“Here!”

 

After everyone had said here, Henry said farewell to Greg and Marya and headed off to history class.

 

Henry wasn't really there mentally in any of his classes, knowing exactly what he and Hermione had planned for gym class, a period that ends up rolling around way too quickly.

 

It was a class with all of his friends, something he couldn't help but worry about, seeing what he’s about to do. Dumb luck had put them all together in here, just as dumb luck had decided this was best period where he could leave school and attract the least attention to himself.

 

Henry and all of his friend gathered in a group on the left side of the gym, everyone except for Greg and Olivia. Henry spotted Olivia talking to the coach to the right, and she waved before returning to her conversation. He didn’t see Greg anywhere, oddly enough.

 

Elijah, a friend with black dreadlocks who was wearing a painfully loud yellow shirt cheerfully asked “How’s everyone today?”

 

Marya flashed a little smile, and moved her hair out of her face. “Pretty good, actually."

 

Paris, a boy with short brown hair, and also one of the school nerds, said “I’m a bit worried about the algebra test next week, myself.”

 

Angelyn, a girl with perfect blonde hair and blue eyes, who was also one of the most popular girls in the school, yet who somehow decided to hang out with Henry nudged Paris jokingly. “You worry way too much. It’s just one test.”

 

“I can’t miss one question, Alex and I are in competition.” Paris grinned nervously.

 

Matthias, a latino guy with shortcut black hair who’d given up on his education about two years back, spoke up. “Why bother? Do something cool, like pursuing wrestling. It’s cool, I promise.”

 

Angelyn opened her eyes wide, and turned to Matthias. “Matthias, for the last time. You’re smart, if you actually tried, you’d be up there with the best of the best grade wise.”

 

“He’s already pretty great in gym. Achieve your dreams!” Elijah grinned.

 

“Could you, like, stop being so positive for once in your life?” Marya snarled.

 

Elijah threw his hands up defensively. “Okay then. Okay. I’ll back off.”

 

Angelyn leaned close to Marya. “Could you avoid making a snarky comment like, every now and then? They’re really, really not great all the time.”

 

Marya ignored her, and turned to Henry. “What’s up with you, Henry? You’ve hardly spoken at all today.”

 

Henry shrugged. “Just really thoughtful today.”

 

Matthias grinned. “Get your head in the game, Henry.”

 

Henry jokingly pushed Matthias. “You guys literally never stop.”

 

The coach ended their conversation by blowing his whistle, calling everyone to the class lesson- a basketball game.

 

Unlike Matthias, Henry really wasn’t a fan of gym class. The one thing it had going for it was it was full of lots of people he knew. But that was equally balanced by people he hated.

 

The couch tossed the ball in, starting the game. Henry was lucky enough to be on a team with most of his friends. The gym echoed with the skid of sneakers on the wooden floor, the bounce of the basketball, and shouted insults as the ball was stolen from people.

 

Matthias grabbed the ball, and passed it to Marya. Marya fumbled it, Angelyn just barely snatching it away from her before it hit the floor. Angelyn took a shot for the hoop, and it bounced off the rim. There’s a collective groan as it goes to the other team. 

 

Henry decided this is his chance, and shot a quick mental message to Hermione.

 

_“Let’s do it. Now!”_

 

_“I’m on it.”_

 

Henry felt his palm start to feel hot, and while Henry’s dealing with this, Elijah tried to pass the ball to him. It hit Henry in the face, and Henry fell to the ground.

 

Elijah hurried to his side. "You alright, man?"

 

Henry nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Just give me a second."

 

Elijah nodded slowly, and returned to the game, which resumed when he told everyone Henry was fine.

 

His hand glowing a faint red now, Henry quickly pressed it to the floor. The energy transferred into the floor, and Henry knew exactly what’s going to happen, so he readied himself.

 

A barely visible red streak scurried under the floor, something only Henry’s friends notice because they were still keeping their eye on him. Henry spotted Olivia shooting him a confused look from across the gym, and oddly enough, Greg watching from behind the bleachers, mouth open.

 

Then, the red streak darkened in one spot in the corner of the room, and fire erupted from the floor. Henry winces at the heat he can feel, then panics. His friends weren't safe, and he couldn't have that. He drew on Hermione’s power without her permission, and pushed Elijah, Matthias, Angelyn, Paris, and Marya out the gym doors, slamming it behind them. 

 

Henry watched Olivia creep slowly away from the fire, and run across the gym to the other side, where there were doors to the outside. He saw her shoot a crazed and confused look at Henry before throwing those doors open, and running off into the desert sands that New Mexico is known for.  Henry knew she was now safe, Hermione has designed a contained fire that would go out after five minutes, only burning the room it was in.

 

Henry looked over to where Greg was a minute ago, and saw that he was already gone. Knowing that he doesn’t have the time to search for him, Henry ran for the same exit Olivia took, shooting one look back at the dumb jocks trying to put out the fire.

 

He grimaced as one of them screamed, before closing the door behind him. “Olivia!” he called out into the desert.

 

There was no response. 

 

“Damn it.” Henry swore. He shook his head, and hurrids away from the school, heading back to the plot of land that used to be his house.

 

He didn’t notice Olivia breathing a sigh of relief as she leaned out from behind the wall she was hiding behind. Shooting one worried look in the direction Henry had gone in, she headed back into the gym. She only had one plan: to save as many people as she could. Henry was her friend, and she felt that that alone made her partially responsible.

 

Henry ran down the sidewalks of Bentley, and just as he gets to the plot where his house used to sit, he called on Hermione.

 

_“Hermione!”_

 

_“On it!”_

 

Henry soared into the air, and watched as the houses get smaller and smaller below him, an adobe sea crisscrossed by black lines. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the red of fire engines wailing down below him.

 

_“Hermione, please get me out of here.”_

 

He could tell Hermione understood.  _“Of course. See you soon, Henry.”_

 

Back at Northridge Middle School, Olivia coughed as she entered the gym, smoke filling her lungs. The whole room was full of smoke, and the sprinklers splattered water onto the wood floor, ruining the fresh paint job the school had paid for about a year ago.

 

The room had been evacuated, and the loud speakers switched on. “Students, this is not a drill. Please evacuate, and go out to the front of the school. Repeat, this is not a drill. Excavate the building.”

 

Olivia nodded to herself, and does as the loud speakers ask, moving towards the gym doors.

 

She didn’t know what’d just happened, she just knew that her whole world had just been turned inside out.


	3. After the Fire

Angelyn, Paris, Marya, Elijah, and Matthias all watched as the red crept across the floor, and fire erupted from the floor in the corner of the gym.

 

“Did you just see that?” Angelyn shouted over the sudden screams.

 

Everyone else nodded silently, too shocked for words.

 

Henry turned to the five of them, and for a second, Angelyn felt fear creeping down her back. She could’t help but fear that he was going to set the five of them on fire too.

 

Henry raised his hands, and all five of them flinch. He didn’t seem to notice, and made a pushing motion, sending them skidding backwards. Matthias, standing the furthest back, hit the lockers outside the door first with a resounding boom, then everyone else collided with him.

 

They then all fell in a heap, Paris at the bottom. 

 

As a final insult, the gym doors slammed shut in their face, the noise echoing down the hallways. Paris passed out, and everyone climbed off of him.

 

Elijah knelt down, and checked Paris. "Still breathing," he reported.

 

“Oh, thank god. Okay but guys, what the hell just happened?” Angelyn shuddered.

 

Marya shrugged. “I’m completely sure your guess is as good as mine.”

 

“How are you so calm?” Angelyn nearly screamed. “The gym just burned down, and who caused it? Henry! Freaking Henry!”

 

“Hey, I’m with you on this, Angelyn,” Elijah said, climbing back to his feet.

 

Angelyn sighed. “Elijah, you’re great, but please save your optimism for later.”

 

A grumpy, black haired teacher from down the hall opened her door, and leaned out. “You’re supposed to be in class. Get there before I call security on you.”

 

Matthias gave her a look. “Our class is in there,” he said, jerking his thumb back at the gym door. “And because you couldn’t tell by the smoke, it’s on fire!”

 

The teacher shot him a dirty look, but she pulled the fire alarm. “Everyone out!” she shouted. “No one’s in the bathroom, right? You know what? Don’t tell me if there is, I don’t want to go after anyone.”

 

A teacher further down the hall opened up her door, and seeing the smoke, takes out her cell phone. The five of them overheard her phone call as she teetered down the hall in tiny high heels. “CNN? Yeah, I’ve got a huge scoop for you… You will mention me by name, right?”

 

Her class fled the classroom in a panic as the loud speaker switch on. “Students, this is not a drill. Please evacuate, and go out to the front of the school. Repeat, this is not a drill. Excavate the building.”

 

“No wonder we’re 49th in education,” Marya remarked as Paris regained himself.

 

The five of them joined the students surging down the hallway, and had to climb over the coyote statue to get through the crowd and push through the doors to the open concrete area in front of Northridge Middle School. Angelyn sadly stepped over a small boy who was crying on the ground because of the hysteria. A group to the left wouldn't stop screaming for anything, while to the right, another group filmed the whole thing.

 

Parents drove by the cement area, trying to pick up their kids, all while the firetrucks and news vehicles attempted to get close to the school. It was a traffic nightmare.

 

They ran into Olivia, who was urgently shouting into her cellphone.

 

“Sorry, my dad saw the news. You guys alright?” she asked, hanging up.

 

“Yeah,” Elijah said.

 

“Henry shoved us out the door somehow, it was weird,” Angelyn added.

 

“This whole thing is weird,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure what I just saw- but it makes no sense.”

 

“I’m not sure any of this is even real.” Paris sighed.

 

Just then, Olivia’s phone vibrated. “Oh! Gotta run guys, my mom’s here. Talk to you whenever this whole mess is resolved and we can get back to school.”

 

“Bye Olivia,” the five of them said as she hurried across the concrete area to a silver car, which sped in-between a school bus and a news van to get to the exit.

 

“Olivia definitely has the greatest parents out of all of us.” Matthias remarked.

 

“You guys all have cool parents.” Elijah said. “My aunt’s pretty cool.”

 

“She does make the best banana bread.” Marya nodded.

 

“I’m going to call my mom, you guys want to come with?” Angelyn asked.

 

Everyone agreed that that sounds great, and Angelyn pulled out her phone and dialed her mom’s number.

 

“Hi, mom? If you turn on the news you’ll probably see that the school is on fire-“ Angelyn opened her eyes wide, and nodded at everyone. She then put the phone back in her pocket.

 

“That’s all she needed to hear, she’s on her way.”

 

“Wow, that was a fast response,” Paris remarked.

 

“Side effect of the divorce, I guess,” Angelyn said quietly. “She’ll try to get everything done quickly to keep her mind off it.”

 

Angelyn wiped at her eyes, and smiled widely at everyone. “But hey, I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

 

“Definitely,” Elijah nodded.

 

Angelyn smiled at him, appreciating his consistent optimism for once. But as she looked at Elijah, just behind his black dreadlocks, she saw a familiar face. Greg. Angelyn narrowed her eyes. Who was that he was taking to?

 

Matthias noticed Angelyn’s change of expression. “You see something?”

 

“Just Greg,” Angelyn said. “Hang on a sec, okay?”

 

She didn't wait for a response, and started pushing through the crowd of students and teachers to reach Greg. Anything was suspicious to her after Henry, the most innocent one in the group, set fire to the gym.

 

Angelyn was about to reach them when Greg noticed her, and Angelyn sees him say goodbye to the guy he’s talking to. The guy put up his grey hoodie, covering up his black hair, and walked quickly down the sidewalk that leads out of the school grounds.

 

Angelyn, thinking quickly, came up with a reason for why she walked over there. “Hey Greg, you need a ride home?”

 

Greg shook his head. “Nah. I’ve already had someone else promise me a ride.”

 

“Is that with the guy you were talking to?” Angelyn asked, trying to avoid sounding suspicious.

 

“Nah, man.”

 

“Oh… who was he then? Can’t help being curious.” Angelyn laughed.

 

“Just some guy, wanted a ride home and I had to turn him down.” Greg shrugged.

 

Angelyn nodded. “Alright. Give me a shout if you need that ride home after all.”

 

“Will do.”

 

Angelyn turned around, and started heading back to everyone else. She was pretty sure she w as just on edge, but couldn't help but feel that everything around her was suspicious, first with Henry lighting the school on fire, Olivia finding a way home and not asking any of them if they need a ride, and then Greg talking to shady characters. Even the seventh grader digging in his backpack worried Angelyn.

 

She got back to everyone, and shook her head. “He’s somehow already found a ride.”

 

“Greg has other friends?” Marya asked.

 

“I thought exactly the same thing, and apparently, he does now.” Angelyn shrugged.

 

“Weird. You’d think we’d hear about that,” Paris frowned.

 

“Revenge for not inviting him with us to eat at McDonalds last weekend, maybe?” Matthias wondered.

 

“Would’t surprise me,” Paris said.

 

“Relax everyone,” Elijah told them. “Greg’s your friend, it’s gotta be some perfectly great explanation. Trust me.”

 

“You’re right, Elijah. Just…” Angelyn sighed.

 

Her mom then drove up in the parent pickup, having somehow managed to maneuver her battered, silver Honda Odyssey through the traffic jam that Northridge Middle School had become.

 

Angelyn slid open the back door for everyone, and Marya, Elijah, Paris, and Matthias clambered into the car. Angelyn shut it, and opened up the door to the passenger’s side.

 

“Hey mom. Thanks for picking us up so quickly.” Angelyn said.

 

Angelyn’s mom, with her frizzy blonde hair and wild blue eyes, said “Of course! It’s the least I can do! I mean, your school just burned down!”

 

“Thanks for the ride, Mrs Schwartz.” Matthias said from the far back seat.

 

Angelyn’s mom nodded, and stepped on the gas with an ill fitting croc. 

 

The car zoomed forward, narrowly missing a fire truck in front of them. Angelyn sighed. She loved her mom, but should have realized that her mom wasn’t in the right place for this right now.

 

Behind her, Paris closed his eyes, and gripped the arm rests tightly. If he’d known how shaky Angelyn’s mom was at driving, he’d have declined Angelyn’s offer. He had a very weak stomach.

 

15 minutes later, the car rattled down the dirt road Angelyn’s house was located on. They pulled into the circular driveway, and parked between a planter and the wall that borders the inner yard. Angelyn lived in a two story house, made out of white painted wood with a well tended lawn making up the inner yard. 

 

There was a for sale sign staked right in the middle of the front planter. Angelyn and her mom couldn’t afford to live in this nice house anymore, which caused Angelyn to spend most of her free time on home tours with her mom.

 

Everyone climbed out of the car, and Angelyn’s mom pulled the keys out of the ignition when Angelyn reminded her she had to do that. They walked up to the front door, and Angelyn’s mom fumbled with the keys, dropping them.

 

She laughed. “Sorry, kidos. What I wouldn’t give for a little down time to relax!”

 

She picked up the keys, and this time, she managed to open the door. 

 

“Make yourselves at home, I’ll phone your parents to come get you and bake some cookies for y’all,” Angelyn’s mom smiled sadly.

 

“Thank you Mrs. Schwartz.” the five of them said.

 

Mrs. Schawartz grinned widely as they hurried upstairs to Angelyn’s room. Then, as soon as they were out of sight, the smile dropped from her face, and she sighed.

 

“I can’t believe David, leaving me alone. ‘Poor little Lorie’, I can’t afford a thing, and then I go and offer to bake cookies for everyone! Ha!” she said to herself.

 

She shook her head, and headed into the kitchen.

 

Upstairs, Angelyn lead everyone down a hallway, which was decorated in family portraits. There were picture sized gaps between photos where photos with her dad had been taken down.

 

Angelyn pushed open her bedroom door, which had photos of her friends taped to it, and cringed when she realized that a mess her room is. She quickly shoved the mess on her light blue bedspread onto the floor, and pulled her desk chair out from beneath the clean clothes her mom had dumped on it earlier that morning.

 

“Please excuse the mess,” Angelyn said with a smile.

 

“It’s fine,” Marya shrugged, claiming the desk chair.

 

Paris, Elijah, and Angelyn sat on the bed, leaving no room for Matthias, so he sat on the floor.

 

“Are we going to talk about whatever the hell just happened?” Paris asked.

 

“How about Henry being the one to cause all this?” Elijah muttered without a trace of his usual optimism. 

 

Angelyn rubbed her hands together. “I think he was possessed by some demon.”

 

“A demon, Angelyn? Really? This is real life.” Paris said.

 

“We all saw the floor change color when he touched it,” Marya said. “It’s a possibility.”

 

“I’ve known Henry for years, and I’ve never seen any sign of these arsonist powers. So maybe.” Matthias shrugged. 

 

“Yeah, you’ve known him longer then all of us, Matthias. So… no sign of any of this before today?” Angelyn asked.

 

“No. He was the most innocent guy ever. Burning down a school- I’m not even sure how that’d occur to him.”

 

“Hm… I think the best way to start to figure this out is to go to Henry’s house and see if we can find anything there,” Angelyn said firmly.

 

“Now you’re thinking,” Elijah grinned.

 

Just then, Angelyn’s mom knocked on the door. “Who wants some cookies?”

 

Marya rose from the desk chair with a huge smile. “Oh, you better bet I do.”

 

She threw open the door, and the five of them followed Angelyn’s mom downstairs to the dining room., where they all sat around the large wooden table. Nothing quite like sympathy cookies.

 

“Oh wow, Mrs. Schwartz! These cookies are the best!” Elijah exclaimed.

 

Angelyn’s mom grinned. “I’m glad you like them Elijah!”

 

The rest of them attempt to thank her through mouthfuls of cookies, and failed completely.

 

She laughed. 

 

There’s a lull in conversation before Angelyn’s mom spoke up again. “I’ve gotta run some errands, kids. Your parents said they’ll be here in about two hours.”

 

“Can we come with?” Angelyn asked, knowing they needed to get to Henry’s house somehow.

 

“Of course!” Angelyn’s mom grinned.

 

She'd been so lonely without her husband that she’d do anything to have some company.

 

Everyone finished up the cookies, then Angelyn’s mom carried the cookie plate over to the kitchen in the room next door, putting it in the sink. She swiped her keys from the counter next to the oven, and lead them all outside to her car.

 

They climbed in, and 15 minutes later, they were driving up to the local Bentley supermarket. Angelyn's mom parked under a tree that's few remaining leaves were brown and shriveled. Fall was when everything died in New Mexico.

 

“I’m going to run in and grab some groceries for dinner tonight.” Angelyn’s mom told Angelyn, putting lipstick on while looking into the rearview mirror. "You guys want to come in, or just wait in the car?"

 

“Alright, mom, we'll wait. Thanks for the offer!” Angelyn said.

 

“I’ll leave the keys in the ignition to leave the heat on for you guys, don’t you go driving anywhere, you hear me?” She laughed.

 

She opened the door and closed it gently behind her, then quickly hurried into the store.

 

“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Marya asked.

 

“I think we are,” Matthias grinned.

 

Angelyn hesitantly moved into the driver’s seat, and nervously clutched the wheel as Nionnien slid into the passengers seat.

 

“Come on, go!” Marya shouted.

 

“I’m only 13, Marya, we all are, like, do you really think I can do this?” Angelyn said quickly.

 

Paris, looking a bit green, spoke up from the far back seat. “I’m not sure this is the best idea.”

 

“Shut it, nerd,” Marya told him. “Also, Matthias, don’t let him blow chunks.”

 

Matthias slowly nodded.

 

“You’ve got this, Angelyn,” Elijah reassured her.

 

Angelyn closed her eyes. "Everyone buckle up."

 

Those who'd undone their seat belts clicked them into place, and Angelyn opened her eyes. "Okay then!"

 

Angelyn took a deep breath, and carefully pulled out of the parking space.

 

“See? So far, so good!” Marya urged her on.

 

Angelyn carefully drove her car out of the parking lot, and got on main street.

 

“Next stop, Henry’s house,” she told everyone, gaining a little bit of confidence.

 

It didn't take long for Angelyn to loose that confidence. She struggled, especially after announcing that this is in fact her first time on the road, and hearing everyone’s collective groans. It also really didn't help that everyone was shouting at her either.

 

“Angelyn! It’s a left! Not a right!”

 

“We’re all gonna die!”

 

“Wooo! There’s an old lady right there, crossing the road! Ten points if you run her over!”

 

Angelyn couldn’t believe she had to tell everyone that she did not support the abuse of harmless old ladies.

 

She turned onto the street Henry’s house is located on, Windsor Street, and started looking for the house number.

 

“316 Windsor Street,” she said to herself.

 

She parked, ready to berate everyone for making her first driving experience one of the most stressful experiences of her life, but the sight in front of her stopped the words in her mouth.

 

Angelyn was expecting to see the sight she’d seen hundreds of times before in her life, a simple, one story brown adobe house, Henry’s dad possibly working in the garage, garage door open, his mom tending to the small patch of grass they had for a front yard.

 

But it wasn’t there. The house numbers went 314, skipped 316, and went straight to 318. In it’s place was a flat patch of dirt.

 

Angelyn heard a thunk behind her, meaning Paris has passed out into the seat in front of him, and then she heard Matthias swear.

 

She just shook her head in disbelief, and leaned forward with Marya.

 

“What did we just run into?” Elijah asked.

 

Around the patch of dirt, a hundred or so people, dressed oddly, some of them not even looking human milled around.

 

Angelyn caught sight of a pair of black horns, and immediately placed Maleficent. A black and white head of hair immediately identified Cruella, and she caught sight of Valentine Morgenstein.

 

All of these villains meant only one thing to Angelyn. They’d screwed up pretty badly in deciding to come here.


	4. The Letter

Hermione woke up in her bed, and starred past the red curtains to the ceiling above. She’d gone to bed after helping Henry fly to rest for the next day when he’d finally arrive. Time zones made everything so complicated.

 

Hermione got of bed, and tiptoed across the cold tile to her slippers, which she quickly put on. She then returned to her bed and opened up the wardrobe next to it. She looked at the many Hogwarts uniforms, and pulled one out. Hermione had classes today, she wasn’t going to wear muggle clothes.

 

She went downstairs to the showers, and after she was finished, she went back upstairs, noticing that the hallways were just starting to fill up with people. The sun was rising, breakfast time. Hermione hurried back into her dormitory, greeting the Fat Lady in the process.

 

When she got there, Hermione reached under her pillow, and grabs her time turner. She still couldn’t really believe she’d signed up for all the classes she had. Slipping the time turner on, Hermione looked at the window. A clear day. That was perfect the day she’d get to meet Henry for the first time.

 

Hermione left the dormitory and hurried down the stairs, anticipating the lessons she’d have today. She walked into the Great Hall, and looked for the spot she always sat at. Harry and Ron weren’t there yet. Typical. That was what she got for having two of the laziest friends in the world.

 

She sat down at her spot and piled up her plate with eggs and french toast. These were the meals that made going home a punishment, and she couldn’t wait for Henry to join her in eating the delicious food the Hogwarts kitchens provided.

 

Lonely, Hermione decided to try and contact Henry. _Henry?_ she thought.

 

There was no response.

 

Hermione guessed he’d fallen asleep while flying, and sighed. She started to eat her eggs, and before she knew it, she’d finished her whole meal. All without Harry and Ron. Hermione sighed, and got up, deciding to go to Transfiguration early today. Maybe get what that letter was out of Professor McGonagall.

 

Hermione knocked on the classroom door, and a door opened next door. McGonagall’s office. Professor McGonagall looked out, her hair disheveled, glasses in her hand.

 

“Who is it?” McGonagall asked. She put her glasses on, and recognized Hermione. “Oh, Hermione. Come on in.”

 

“Thanks Professor,” Hermione smiled.

 

Professor McGonagall shut the door behind Hermione and moved to sit behind her desk. “Pardon my appearance, Hermione,” she sighed. “I’ve been up all night discussing the contents of that letter with Professor Dumbledore.”

 

“Professor!” Hermione exclaimed. “You didn’t need to do that!”

 

“No. I didn’t. But I wanted to.” McGonagall nodded. She then got up out of her chair, and opened up a cabinet behind her desk, and pulled out the letter. She held it out to Hermione. “Here. Take it. Henry’s on his way, no harm in you reading it now.”

 

Hermione hesitantly grabbed the letter, and her eyes widened as she began to scan the words.

 

_To whom it may concern,_

 

_I’m sending this letter as a warning. We don’t know each other, but I trust this letter has reached the right person. This may be hard to believe, but all stories are real. I completely get that this is a lot to take in, but hear- or- read me out here. These stories, they all have villains. And these villains are allying up to take revenge on all the heroes who have wronged them._

 

_This part is urgent. You must have the contents of this letter reach Hermione and Henry Granger. From what I can see, they may be the only ones who can put a stop to this. I’m no expert at anything, really, but whoever this letter reaches, have those two or have many gather heroes from stories to combat these villains. This may be our only chance. I’ll do what I can to stop this myself, but I fear I may loose my life in the process. If this is case, I trust Henry and Hermione._

 

_Thank you._

_\- An Ally_

 

Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall, now understanding the terror she’d seen in her eyes so the day before.

 

“Do you have any idea who sent this?” Hermione asked, voice shaking.

 

Professor McGonagall shook her head. “It just appeared on my desk.”

 

“But- but how do they know? About Henry and I, about stories being real, about- well, everything? And why trust Henry and I? We’re 13!” Hermione went on.

 

“I wish I had the answers for you, Hermione. I truly do. For now, I believe we just have to follow this person’s wishes. It’s our only idea of what to do.”

 

Hermione nodded, shaken. She made to give the letter back, but McGonagall shook her head.

 

“Keep it, Hermione. You and Henry can use that letter better than I ever can.”

 

Hermione nodded again, and moved to the door. At the door, she stopped for a moment, then turned around. “Thank you. For… everything.” she said.

 

“Of course, Hermione.” McGonagall smiled. “Now, go. Class is about to start.”

 

Hermione closed the door as she left, and slipped the letter into her Transfiguration textbook. She slipped into the classroom, and found Harry and Ron already sitting there. For the first time ever, they’d beaten her somewhere.

 

“Hermione! Where were you?” Harry said, turned around.

 

“I was just outside the classroom.” Hermione shrugged, sitting down in her desk.

 

Ron nodded. “Okay.”

 

Harry narrowed his eyes. “But were you really?”

 

Hermione quickly thought of another thing to say. “Alright Harry, you’ve got me. I went to talk to Professor McGonagall about the paper that’s due next week.”

 

Harry pointed at Ron. “You loose!”

 

Ron frowned, and shoved over a chocolate frog. “Don’t be so aggressive, mate.” 

 

Hermione looked at them, outraged. “Did you two just bet on me?”

 

Harry nodded. “Ron over here thought you’d already be worrying, I thought you wouldn’t be.”

 

“Oh my god! You two are the worst!” Hermione exclaimed.

 

Draco walked by and snorted. “Really? A chocolate frog, Potter?”

 

“Shove off Malfoy.” Harry responded, rising from his chair.

 

Just then, Professor McGonagall walked in. “Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy. I expect my class to be settled when I walk in. 10 points from both of your houses.”

 

Harry meekly sat back down, and Draco snorted, but went back to his desk.

 

Professor McGonagall started the lesson, and Hermione zoned out. This was the sort of behavior Professor McGonagall would usually call out, but she decided to give Hermione a break. Hermione found herself frequently checked the time, both anticipating and dreading Henry’s arrival.

 

She was going to get to see him for the first time, but at the same time, she’s also have to show him the letter. And she already knew that wasn’t going to be fun.

 

The class was over before Hermione knew it. She gathered up her materials, feeling slightly guilty for letting that lecture go completely over her head. Harry and Ron joined her as she headed towards the door.

 

“Hermione? You alright?” Harry asked.

 

“Yeah, yeah…” Hermione muttered.

 

“Hermione? Could I speak to you?” Professor McGonagall called out from the classroom.

 

Harry and Ron stared at her.

 

“Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.” Hermione said, waving them off.

 

Harry and Ron shared a confused look, but left her anyway.

 

Hermione walked up to Professor McGonagall’s desk. 

 

“Dumbledore wants to greet Henry with you.” Professor McGonagall said. “We’ve gone ahead and exempted you from all of your classes today, just go and find Dumbledore’s office. It’s above that golden eagle statue, the password is oddment.”

 

Hermione nodded. “Okay, thanks.”

 

Professor McGonagall smiled and nodded, and Hermione left the room. She pushed through the crowds in the hallway and eventually found the statue Professor McGonagall had been talking about.

 

Looking around, Hermione made sure no one was around before whispering “Oddment.”

 

The golden eagle statue rose into the alcove, a staircase appearing beneath it. Hermione looked on in wonder. No wonder she’d never been to Professor Dumbledore’s office! 

 

Hermione carefully stepped onto the first step, and then started to climb. She reached the wooden doors at the top and knocked. There was no reply from inside. Hermione carefully pushed open the door on the right.

 

“Hello? Headmaster?” she called out.

 

Still no response. 

 

Hermione decided to wait for him, and walked along the walls, looking at all the little silver contraptions Professor Dumbledore had collected and placed in his office. She looked up at the portraits of the old headmasters of Hogwarts behind Professor Dumbledore’s desk, and realized she could name most of them. She’d read all about them, of course.

 

There was a bird post in one corner with a little golden dish full of ash underneath it. There was no bird, though. Hermione studied it curiously, and was about to touch the ash when Professor Dumbledore entered the room.

 

“Ah. Ms. Granger,” he said, pushing open the door to his office. “I didn’t expect you to beat me here.”

 

He waved his wand, and a comfortable looking blue armchair appeared in front of his desk. 

 

“Do have a seat, Ms. Granger,” Professor Dumbledore said, moving to sit in the chair behind his desk.

 

Hermione did as he asked, and put her Transfiguration textbook on the floor beside her.

 

“Your twin isn’t here yet, correct?” Professor Dumbledore asked.

 

Hermione closed her eyes and sensed that he was awake, but still a several kilometers away.

 

“I’d give him 15 more minutes or so.”

 

Professor Dumbledore nodded. “Tell me Hermione, this war… do you and Henry plan to follow the plan that letter writer suggested to you?”

 

Hermione reached down and pulled the letter from her textbook. “It’s our best shot.”

 

Professor Dumbledore frowned. “Yes. There really is no other way…”

 

“Sir?”

 

“No matter, Ms. Granger. Just the musings of a mad old man.”

 

“With all do respect sir, I’d love to hear what you think.”

 

“Well Ms. Granger, you know that I fear for all of my students. After Lord Voldemort tried to return three years ago, well, I’ve been concerned. And I fear this may be the way he tries to return for good.”

 

Hermione nodded. “The letter writer did say all villains.”

 

“After I heard about you and Mr. Granger, I read that same book on the Germinus Contineco. I truly believe you and your brother are the only way to stop this, my dear. That letter writer knew what they were talking about, and I believe they have offered the best solution,” Professor Dumbledore went on.

 

“Professor Dumbledore. I think that the best way for Henry and I to get our message across would be to give a speech to these heroes we’re trying to get on board,” Hermione said.

 

“Genius idea, Ms. Granger. Now, I do believe your twin is about to arrive.”

 

Professor Dumbledore rose from his chair, and Hermione followed, scooping her Transfiguration textbook off the floor. He held open his office door for Hermione. and the two descended the stairs and strode through the castle. Professor Dumbledore opened the heavy front doors with his wand, and closed them in the same manner once they were both in the courtyard.

 

The two of us stood there in the decently chilly hair, watching the sky for Henry. Hermione spent the time wondering how Henry would react to seeing Hogwarts for the first time, guessing shocked or awed. This was the story Henry had grown up with, apparently.

 

But instead of Henry rising from the sky, a short woman dressed in pink appeared in front of them. Her clothes were black with soot, and her pink cardigan was on fire, something she immediately ripped off and stamped off on the ground.

 

“Dolores? What are you doing here?” Professor Dumbledore asked.

 

“I’m here… To help,” she gasped. “I- I sided with the villains, and- and-“

 

“Sided with the villains? Who are you?” Hermione asked. “How do you know about any of this?”

 

She cleared her throat. “Hem, hem. I’m Dolores Jane Umbridge, Sec-“ Umbridge put her hands over her face. “I don’t even know what I am anymore.”

 

Professor Dumbledore took Umbridge’s arm, and walked her over to a bench on one side of the courtyard.

 

“Dolores. Tell me what’s happened.” he said quietly.

 

“Everything- everything’s gone. Those two- Henry and Hermione- tried their best, but they lost it when one of their friends died in the war. Walked right into the enemy army and died. After that- it was all over. I saw one of their friends run right off a cliff, and- and- the one surviving one I partnered up with, Angelyn was her name, told me one of them blew himself up, that all of these children were dead- that all the heroes died in the war. And I fought on the opposing side.” Umbridge let out a sob. “Angelyn died when the two of us broke into the ministry and stole me this.” She reached to her neck, unclasped the necklace she was wearing, and held out a time turner.

 

“All of us- are dead?” Hermione asked.

 

“We all have to stop this.” Umbridge said, her voice strengthening. “I’m going be on the right side this time.”

 

“We will, Dolores.” Professor Dumbledore assured her.

 

“And you- Hermione. Whatever happens- keep fighting. For all of us.”

 

Hermione nodded slowly, completely terrified now.

 

“Here, Dolores, let me find you a spare room.” Professor Dumbledore said. “Ms. Granger, I’ll be back momentarily, just keep an eye out for Mr. Granger.

 

He and Umbridge got up off the bench, and walked inside. Hermione stood there, clutching her Transfiguration book to her chest as if it could give her some warmth in this chilly wind. It had been such a nice day earlier this morning too! And it wasn’t like the news from Umbridge was helping keep her warm. Hermione’s blood ran cold whenever she thought of the words. She and Henry were 13- and had the whole world resting on their shoulders.

 

Hermione finally felt Henry’s presence approaching, and looked up into the sky. Henry waved as he landed, and Hermione took in his appearance for the first time. They really did look similar.

 

“You have no idea how great it is to finally meet you in real life, Hermione!” Henry exclaimed.

 

Hermione put her hand over her mouth. “Aw! An American accent!”

 

“I could say the same thing about your British accent.” Henry smiled.

 

Hermione grinned, and the two ran forward and hugged.

 

“It’s so great to see you Henry.” Hermione said.

 

“You too.” Henry nodded as the two stepped apart.

 

“Anyway Henry, there’s a lot going on-“ Hermione started to say, but Professor Dumbledore saved her.

 

He walked through the front doors, and noticed Henry right away. “Ah. Mr Granger. I’ve heard so much about you.”

 

He walked forward, and Henry caught sight of that famous twinkle in his blue eyes as the two shook hands.

 

“It’s nice to see you too, Professor.” Henry smiled awkwardly.

 

Dumbledore looked at the two of them. “Seeing that your brother is here, Ms. Granger, I see no need to keep you in your dormitory.” He pretended to think for a moment. “You know, I’ve found that there’s this certain room behind a certain tapestry… it transforms into the most marvelous flat. I believe Mr. Granger will know exactly what room I’m talking about.”

 

Dumbledore smiled at the two of them, and headed back inside.

 

“So?” Hermione asked.

 

“You know what? Yeah, I do know exactly what he’s talking about.” Henry said. “The Room of Requirement.”

 

The two wandered until they found the the tapestry, and Henry paced in front of it three times.

 

“Henry.” Hermione gasped. “There’s a door there now.”

 

Henry grinned, and pushed it open, revealing a dark blue flat that fit both of us, with two couches facing a simple looking tv, a kitchen with a small dining room table to the left of it, and three doors, leading into two separate bedrooms and a jack-n-jill bathroom.

 

“This is nice.” Henry smiled, looking around. He took out his phone, and his smile got wider. “And somehow, this room is generating it’s own internet connection.”

 

Hermione set down her Transfiguration textbook on the coffee table in between the tv and the couches, and pulled out the letter slowly.

 

Henry noticed what she was doing, and waved her off. “Clue me in later Hermione, please. Turns out, flying takes a lot out of you, even if you’re trying to take naps every now and then.

 

Hermione nodded, secretly relieved. “All right then Henry. See you later then.”

 

Henry flashed her a thumbs up, and went into the bedroom on the left.

 

Hermione walked into the other bedroom, and looked out the window. A storm was brewing, darkening the mid afternoon sky. Hermione got the feeling that this was a bad sign for the future, and decided that maybe, a nap wouldn’t be a bad idea right now. She was already excused from her classes that day after all.

 

Hermione laid down in bed, and woke up in the evening when a sudden bolt of thunder shook the whole castle. That nap felt like no time passed at all to Hermione. She looked out the window again, and noticed that the dark clouds had completely blotted out the stars that usually started to come out at this time.

 

She shook her head, and laid back in bed. Hermione really wished she hadn’t woken up. Now the worries from earlier haunted her mind. She and Henry had to somehow travel and convince numerous heroes to join their cause. At 13. 

 

Hermione put her pillow over her head, blocking out the magical laughter of someone who’d decided to go out in this weather.


	5. Taken

Paris woke up to the sound of Marya speaking. “Back the car away Angelyn. Back away! Now!”

 

Her urgency caused Paris to sit up quickly. “What?” he muttered.

 

“Sleeping beauty is awake,” Matthias told everyone.

 

“You passed out again,” Elijah explained.

 

Angelyn switched the gear into reverse and slammed her foot onto the gas pedal, causing the engine to blow out.

 

“Shit.” Angelyn swore. “We’ve gotta run, guys. Now!”

 

Marya threw open her car door and jumped out, followed my Matthias a second later.

 

Angelyn turned to Paris. “I really hope you’re up to running right now.” 

 

She then pushed open her door, and climbed out, followed by Elijah. Paris, struggling to recollect what had made him pass out, struggled climbing out.

 

“Oh, come on Paris! We so don’t have the time for this!” Marya shouted.

 

Angelyn started to run, leading the group, followed closely by Matthias and Marya. Elijah and Paris brought up the rear.

 

The hot New Mexico sun beat down on them all, heat radiating off the pavement. The brown adobe houses seemed to stretch down the street endlessly as the five of them struggled to catch their breath, weighed down by their school backpacks.

 

Suddenly, all five of them found themselves unable to move. They froze, mid-run. A force turned them around abruptly, and slid them all back to the car, where two figures were waiting. A woman with green skin, wearing a horned headdress, and a kingly figure wearing a cape.

 

The green woman reached into the car, and pulled out the keys. “I believe these are yours,  
 she said to Angelyn.

 

“Maleficent.” Angelyn tried to say boldly, but it came out more as a squeak.

 

“That’s right, dear.” Maleficent said, passing the keys to her companion, who slipped them into a pocket.

 

“I am King Galbatorix.” the kingly man said.

 

Maleficent nodded. “Anyway, tell me children. What are the five of you doing here? Near Henry Granger’s house?”

 

None of them said anything.

 

“Speak you imbeciles, or I will kill you.” she snarled.

 

“He burned down our gym!” Marya said quickly. “We just wanted to know why…”

 

“You, girl. You know how to speak up. Greatly appreciated.” Maleficent said.

 

“Tell us. What is your relation with Henry Granger?” Galbatorix said. “Or are you here because of… Eragon?”

 

“F-friend.” Matthias stammered.

 

Maleficent shook her head at Galbatorix. “Why would they be here because of Eragon? You fool. Eragon isn’t even aware you’ve left Alagaësia.”

 

Galbatorix shot her a dirty look. “I have to be sure, Mal.”

 

“You don’t get to call me that!” Maleficent shouted, slamming her staff on the road. “I am your superior, don’t make me punish you.”

 

Galbatorix backed off a bit, and Maleficent turned back to the five of them. “So, friends of Henry. Tell us. What are your names?”

 

“Angelyn S-Schwartz,” Angelyn stammered.

 

“Marya Pearson,” Marya spat out.

 

“Ma-Matthias D-Delgado,” Matthias said.

 

Paris and Elijah found themselves too terrified to speak.

 

“Don’t make me force you to speak.” Maleficent threatened, waving her staff. “I control all the powers of hell.”

 

“Elijah Benson.” Elijah said at the speed of light.

 

“And you?” Galbatorix asked Paris.

 

“He’s Paris Rowe.” Angelyn said, coming to his rescue.

 

“Girl. Gain the sense of your brown haired friend, and learn to speak when needed, and nothing else!” Galbatorix told her.

 

Galbatorix then turned to Maleficent. “Do we kill them?”

 

“Wait a moment.” Maleficent said, holding out a green finger. “I need to call Brat.”

 

She reached into her black dress and pulled out a cellphone. Angelyn, Marya, Paris, Matthias, and Elijah watched in disbelief as she dialed a number. 

 

Maleficent adopted a formal tone. “Master, we’ve found and detained Angelyn Schwartz, Marya Pearson, Matthias Delgado, Elijah Benson, and Paris Rowe. The five claim to be friends of Henry Granger. What would you like us to do with them?”

 

There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line spoke back.

 

“Mhm. I see.” Maleficent said. “We’ll do that.” 

 

She then turned the phone off and slipped it back into her dress.

 

Maleficent turned to Galbatorix. “Our master wishes for us to bring these five to Shadowvein.”

 

Galbatorix narrowed his eyes. “Shadowvein? Is our master serious?”

 

Maleficent nodded. “Apparently, these five are some high value prisoners.” 

 

She turned to the five of them then. “Now children. It’s time for you five to sleep.” Maleficent waved a hand over the glass orb on the tip of her staff, which glowed green. The green reflected into their eyes.

 

The last thing the five of the heard before passing out was Maleficent telling Galbatorix “This is merely a short term sleeping spell. Nothing like the curse I cast previously.”

 

A few hours later, the five of them woke up at around the same time. They found themselves in a room carved out of grey rock. The only exit was a solid, heavy looking wooden door, lacking a nob on their side.

 

“Are you all alright?” Angelyn breathed. She attempted to get up, but found herself unable to move. “We’re all stuck, guys.”

 

“So I guess this is Shadowvein. A glorified prison,” Marya sighed. “Well, this is just perfection!”

 

“Okay, so how are any of you not freaking out right now? Magic is real, Henry burned down a gym, we just encountered Maleficent and King Galbarorix, and Henry’s house just dropped off the face of the earth? People are looking for him and we’re valuable prisoners?” Paris said in one breath. “I don’t know about you guys, but this all just so isn’t cool.”

 

“Paris, chill man. We’re all freaking out, trust me. Just not as loudly or explicitly as you,” Matthias said.

 

“But-but how? This is insane! We all just met the jealous fairy from Sleeping Beauty! And she cast a sleeping curse on us!”

 

Marya cocked her head. “Some of us are trying to figure out the best way to get the five of us out of here alive. And the answer to that obviously isn’t in the backpacks they left on us.”

 

“You’ve gotta admit you’re a little freaked out by all of this, Marya,” Elijah said. 

 

“Thank you!” Paris exclaimed.

 

“Listen, Paris. Of course we all can’t believe this. But for now, we’ve got to focus on getting out of here with our lives. Trust me, we are all going to loose it later,” Angelyn reassured him.

 

“Not me,” Marya muttered under her breath. 

 

Everyone still heard her.

 

“Yeah, sure Marya,” Matthias said. “This childhood villain appears in front of us and you’re just fine. That’s like seeing a huge guy in the wrestling ring and being certain you’re going to win.”

 

“Well, thanks for the comparison no one got, Matthias, and yes, maybe I will freak out, but not in front of you,” Marya snarled.

 

“Guys, guys! Stop it!” Elijah exclaimed. “This isn’t the time or place for an argument!”

 

“Elijah’s right guys,” Angelyn said.

 

“Sorry for starting this, Angelyn,” Paris grimaced. “Just- you know me. I have no chill. You guys always say it.”

 

“Oh shut up, Paris,” Angelyn joked.

 

Matthias dropped the argument and spoke to everyone else. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

 

 Marya also dropped the argument. “Maybe magic wears off.”

 

“But then there’s a door,” Paris frowned.

 

“Kick it out?” Matthias asked.

 

“That’s a good idea,” Elijah nodded.

 

“Maybe one of us has something in our backpacks,” Angelyn mused.

 

Their conversation was cut short by the wooden door banging open, and a woman in a tattered black dress with a wild grin leaning in. Her hair was tangled beyond belief.

 

“Hello, chickies,” she grinned.

 

All five of them immediately recognized her as Bellatrix Lestrange.

 

She waltzed into the room, and a hooded figure followed her in.

 

“Mal really does know her way around sleeping curses and immobilization spells!” Bellatrix exclaimed. “She always said, but never had a chance to demonstrate until today.”

 

She stepped forward, and examined them all closely, getting right in their face.

 

She suddenly stepped back, and clapped her hands. “So. Mal tells me the five of you are friends of Henry. Is this right?”

 

Angelyn nodded quickly.

 

“What do you want with Henry?” Marya asked boldly.

 

Bellatrix jerkily turned her head towards Marya. “Oh… you’re a brave little chickie, aren’t you? A fighter, am I right?” She stopped for a moment, and closed her eyes. “Reminds me of me in my youth.”

 

Opening her eyes again, she went on. “You’re the sassy one so… Marya! Right. Anyway. You see, we villains have our intel. And intel tells us Harry and his twin will have recently received a letter, and plan to collect heroes from all stories, all across time.”

 

She held up a finger, and stopped. “Now, you see, we villains can’t have that. We need our revenge on the world, and we can’t have heroes getting in our way.”

 

“Henry… has a twin?” Angelyn stammered.

 

Bellatrix opened her mouth and cackled loudly. “Wow! Some friend he is! Yes. He and his twin are the closest of twins. Closest than most, I’d say.”

 

Bellatrix took a moment to take in their stunned faces. 

 

“But gee… you chickies really aren’t going to be as useful as we thought if you don’t even know about Henry’s twin!”

 

“No- no! We’re all plenty useful. Trust me, m’am,” Matthias grinned.

 

“But would you five really be? Like… do we really need all five of you?”

 

Paris nodded quickly.

 

“I’m not so sure myself,” Bellatrix tapped her wand against her palm. “I have a genius idea! The five of you… shall vote on which one of you is the most useless, and therefore, the most disposable.”

 

“No, never!” Angelyn exclaimed.

 

“Do it. Or one of you dies,” Bellatrix snarled.

 

“But-but- these are my friends!” Angelyn gasped.

 

The hooded figure snorted.

 

“Jesus, who even are you?” Marya shouted.

 

Bellatrix glared at Marya. “You don’t get to ask that.”

 

Matthias spoke up. “Take me.”

 

Everyone fell silent, and Bellatrix waited for a moment for someone to speak up, take his place, but no one did.

 

“Hm. I can see why Henry didn’t tell any of you about his twin. You’re all awful friends.” Bellatrix said.

 

She waved her wand, undoing Maleficent’s spell, and pulled Matthias to his feet.

 

Bellatrix thought for a moment. “You’re… Matthias, right?”

 

Matthias nodded.

 

“Alright, listen here, Matthias,” Bellatrix said, pointing at her lips. “As much as I appreciate you volunteering to protect your precious little friends so readily, that also… pisses me off.”

 

Matthias took a step back, mildly terrified.

 

“You see, the whole point of this little exercise was to turn the five of you against each other. And you, Matthias, have just taken that joy away from me. And that’s just something I can’t have from one of my precious little chickies.”

 

Bellatrix snapped her fingers, and the hooded figure stepped forward.

 

“You see, the last thing we villains want to spread is hope. And that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. So we’re just going to have to extinguish that.”

 

She looked back at the hooded figure. “Stab him.”

 

The figure held out a hand, and a silver sword appeared in the gloved hand in a bright purple flash.

 

Marya started to scream, and Angelyn tried to beg Bellatrix. “Please, please, please don’t do this! Please!”

 

Paris shut his eyes tightly, and Elijah covered his mouth.

 

Matthias saw what was coming, and shoved Bellatrix into the wall. She stumbled, and crashed into it, scraping the wall with the back of her hand. She held up her hand, outraged, a massive scrape on the back.

 

“You’ll pay for this, Delgado.” Bellatrix screeched.

 

Matthias started to run for the open door, but the sword hit him first, entering his back, and coming out his front. Matthias fell to the ground, gasping, an alarming pool of blood forming around him, staining his green backpack red.

 

Marya screamed even louder, and Angelyn started to sob. 

 

Bellatrix pointed a finger at the four of them. “You four had better watch yourself.”

 

“Maid!” Bellatrix screeched down the hallway. 

 

A few moments later, a woman with blonde hair wearing a maid’s uniform hurried in.

 

“Yes m’am?” she asked.

 

“Take him to that room down the hall,” Bellatrix demanded. “I have other plans for this one.”

 

The maid nodded, and picked up Matthias is surprisingly strong arms. She left the room carrying him, his backpack falling off just before the door, hitting the floor with a thud.

 

Bellatrix angrily kicked it, and the backpack hit the wall at the back of the room, causing everyone to flinch.

 

“Don’t you four worry yourselves. He’s a dead man.” Bellatrix then swept out of the room, followed by the hooded figure.

 

She yanked out her wand, and the sudden movement obviously hurt the back of her hand. Bellatrix snarled in pain, and shut the door with her wand, forgetting to put an immobilization charm on the four of them because of the pain.

 

“Ma-Matthias.” Angelyn said, tears filling her eyes.

 

“I can’t accept this, I just can’t.” Marya sobbed. “This just so isn’t right.”

 

“That’s- that’s Matthias. Our jock. He stood up for us no matter what.” Paris muttered to himself. “How- how can this- why us?”

 

Elijah didn’t say a word, and just let the tears flow.

 

After a minute, the four of them gathered in a circle, just to be close to one another. They needed each other after loosing Matthias. After Henry going insane and keeping a twin secret from them. After Greg’s shadiness and Olivia finding other friends and rides. Nothing was the same anymore. And after a murder, after discovering magic and stories were real- somehow, nothing was real anymore. Not for any of them. The whole world was just impossible to comprehend suddenly without Matthias, their protector, in it.


	6. Hogwarts

Henry woke up at Hogwarts the next morning, full of joy. He was visiting his childhood obsession, the place he’d dreamed about since fifth grade. Noticing that early morning sun was entering through the windows, he pushed back the white covers, and climbed out of bed. 

 

Opening the door, Henry walked out into the main room, and saw Hermione drinking a cup of coffee at the wooden table in the kitchen area, reading a burnt piece of paper. 

 

“Morning,” Henry said, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself a cup from the half full pot of coffee.

 

“Morning, Henry. Quite a storm last night, huh?” Hermione sighed.

 

“Is what you have to tell me really that bad?” Henry asked, joining her at the table.

 

Hermione nodded, not meeting his eyes. “Read this,” she said, pushing the letter across the table to him.

 

She watched as Henry read it, his eyes getting wider and wider as he read father.

 

“Who sent this?” he demanded upon finishing.

 

Hermione shrugged, defeated. “Not even Professor McGonagall had a clue. And she’s the one who got it.”

 

Henry nodded, panicking slightly. “So, like save the world. No pressure, right? Jeez, I’m so not ready for this!”

 

Hermione reached across the table, and grabbed Henry’s hand. “You’re here, Henry. We’ll figure this out. The two of us are finally together, what could go wrong?”

 

Henry smiled weakly.

 

Hermione dropped Henry’s hand, and looked him dead in the eye. “There’s something else. Yesterday, before you showed up, this woman showed up.”

 

Henry nodded. “And?”

 

“She told Dumbledore and I that right now, the future is basically gone, we’re dead, your friends are dead, it’s just the villains. She told us that… your friend, Angelyn, helped her travel back in time to here, and she died in the process.”

 

Henry looked at her, horrified. “And you let me go to bed without telling me any of this?”

 

“I couldn’t ruin your first day at Hogwarts!” Hermione exclaimed. “This place is your childhood!”

 

“I appreciate that, but… wow. We need to start finding heroes. Today,” Henry said firmly.

 

“Yes. I’ve already told Dumbledore the two of us are going to give a speech to the people here, so that’s what we’ll do today,” Hermione smiled. “I’ve found burying my stress in work helps a little.”

 

Henry smiled, and got up from the table. He walked back into his bedroom, swiped his phone off the bedside table, and returned to Hermione. Opening up a new notes document, he turned to Hermione.

 

“Alright, let’s come up wth a list of places to visit.”

 

“Good idea,” Hermione smiled.

 

“I’ll start out with Hogwarts…” Henry said, typing it in.

 

“Didn’t you tell me about that one book where people could read stuff into existence?” Hermione suggested.

 

“Inkheart?” Henry asked. “Good idea.”

 

Typing it in, he said “I’m going to add the Mortal Instruments and Percy Jackson.”

 

“Good. Alice in Wonderland?” she suggested jokingly. “It is the story that led to our discovery of all stories being real and all.”

 

“Sure,” Henry shrugged. “We need all the help we can get. I’ll just slip it to the bottom of the list.”

 

“Percy Jackson… how about the Egyptian themed one?” Hermione asked.

 

“The Kane Chronicles? Sure,” Henry smiled. “I’m going to add the Inheritance series.”

 

“I think that’s good for now,” Hermione said. “The two of us really need to get started on this speech.”

 

“Just one moment,” Henry said. “I want to look something up.”

 

Henry typed Northridge Middle School into his phone. The first result that came up was a news article titled _Gym Torched and Students Traumatized._ Henry hesitated a moment before clicking on it.

 

_Yesterday, the gym in Northridge Middle School caught fire due to an unknown reason. Authorities are saying this could have been an act of terror or teenage angst, but either way, the town of Bentley, New Mexico, is terrified. Several of the students received serious burns and are currently in the hospital._

 

_We caught up with three students from the school early this morning. Olivia Terry, an eighth grader told us exclusively that “One second we we’re playing basketball, and the next, there was a fire! I didn’t even have a chance to see what happened. Just please. Whoever did this, please tell us. I’m worried.”_

 

_Her friend, Ari Moore, told us that “I was sitting in science when some kids in the hallway said there was smoke, and then the next thing I knew, we were being evacuated! I’m like, super glad that no one died.”_

 

_A third source, Greg Perez said “It’s wild, man. This isn’t supposed to happen. These are the kinds of things you hear about, not the things that happen to you! Wildest day of school yet.”_

 

_Some parents are even removing their students from the school, as another student, Zackary Turner told us. “My parents are removing me from the school district tomorrow! It’s insane! My friend Alex’s parents are doing the same thing. Bye, New Mexico!”_

 

_Unfortunately, we also have some students missing. A mother of one of the students here, Lorie Schwartz, called in and asked us “Please spread awareness that my daughter, Angelyn, went missing with my car when I ran some errands. Please return my daughter to me! Please!”_

 

_Her recently divorced husband, David Schwartz, called and delivered a similar message. Please. If you catch sight of any of these students, give the school a call at this number._

 

Underneath the number, there were the school ID photos of Henry, Marya, Paris, Angelyn, Elijah, and Matthias.

 

Henry nearly threw his phone. The people he’d tried to save were missing. By pushing them out the door had he somehow sent them to a fate worse than what would have occurred if he’d left them in the gym?

 

Henry put his head in his hands, something Hermione noticed.

 

“Henry? What did you look up?” she asked.

 

Henry slid his phone across the table as a response. She grabbed it, and read the article Henry still had open.

 

After a minute, she sent him a sad look. “Henry. I’m sure they’re still okay. This Lorie said they took her car, maybe they just drove somewhere and still need to drive home.”

 

“I sure hope so,” Henry muttered.

 

“No one would target them, anyway. These gathering villains are targeting the heroes from their stories, not us or your friends. They probably don’t even know you exist, Henry!” Hermione reassured him.

 

“You’re right there,” Henry nodded.

 

“If anyone, I’m the most in danger because of Lord Voldemort. But we haven’t seen hide or hair of him since that diary last year, and even that was just a relic from his past. So, Henry, your friends are totally completely safe. They’ll turn up,” Hermione smiled.

 

“Thanks, Hermione. That actually… really helped.” 

 

Hermione passed his phone back. “Of course. That’s what siblings are for!”

 

They sat in silence for a minute, sipping their coffees.

 

“So. The speech?” Hermione asked.

 

Henry nodded. “Of course.”

 

A few hours later, it was mid afternoon, and they were finished writing and memorizing their speech. They’d even had time for a shower and change of clothes.

 

“Okay, Henry. I have an idea for how to get you into the Great Hall without too many noticing. We’re going to steal Harry’s invisibility cloak.” Hermione grinned.

 

“We’re going to do what?” Henry asked, shocked.

 

“Ah, come on! It’ll be great!” Hermione said. “Now is actually the best time to do this, so…”

 

Hermione walked over to the entrance door, and looked out into the hallway. After a minute, she turned around, and motioned for Henry to walk forward.

 

“All clear. Just as I thought, most everyone’s outside enjoying the sun right now,” Hermione told Henry once he got close.

 

The two walked out into the hallway and watched as the door disappeared. 

 

“Okay. This way,” Hermione said, walking right. Henry followed closely behind, glad they weren’t running into anyone.

 

Once they reached the end of the hallway, Hermione pulled Henry behind a suit of armor. “There’s a passage behind this an hour back, it leads straight to the Gryffindor Tower. We’ll be able to avoid the hallways.”

 

She slipped the time turner’s chain around Henry’s neck as well, and pressed the button once. “There we go. One hour.” she said as the turner part of the device started to turn.

 

Henry watched in amazement as everything went backwards around them, watching Harry and Ron hurry down the hallway, Professor McGonagall walking quickly, obviously looking for someone.

 

Then, they were standing an hour in the past. Hermione pressed a button on the watch she was wearing, setting a timer. The hallways were full of people, many of the in swimwear so they could jump into the Black Lake on this warm fall day. The students trickled past the suit of armor, completely missing them.

 

Hermione and Henry carefully stepped backwards into the passageway that was now open behind the passage, cautiously moving to make sure no one saw them. 

 

“Now, we wait,” Hermione whispered. “The passageway will stay open as long as we’re in it, so we have to be out of here before an hour, so in the past, we can travel to here. If that makes any sense.”

 

“Oh yeah, that makes so much sense,” Henry laughed quietly.

 

“Time travel is wild,” Hermione sighed.

 

“I’ve seen so many shows where time travel is a huge part of it, and I’ve completely given up trying to figure it out.”

 

“Probably for the best.”

 

The two lapsed into silence, and Henry and Hermione were standing there for a good half-hour before they saw Professor McGonagall hurry past, just like they’d seen traveling back to this point. Fifteen minutes after, Harry and Ron passed, talking loudly about chocolate frog cards.

 

“Okay, come on,” Hermione said, gesturing at the stone passage stretching out in front of them. 

 

Henry nodded, and the two of them hurried down, arriving at the other end within five minutes. 

 

“We need to be out of here in nine minutes,” Hermione said, looking down at her watch.

 

Time passed, and a minute till, Henry and Hermione quickly pushed through a tapestry, and emerged in a different hallway. 

 

“Hogwarts is wild,” Henry said, shaking his head.

 

“Magic,” Hermione said with a grin. “Now, come on. We’ve gotta get to Harry’s dresser before he and Ron get back from wherever they walked off to.”

 

A short walk later, Hermione and Henry walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

 

“Who’s that you have with you?” she asked. “You know how much I love gossip!”

 

Hermione shook her head. “Just a visitor. He’ll be gone in no time, don’t worry. And, it’s Dilligrout.”

 

The Fat Lady pouted, but swung her portrait up anyway. 

 

Henry followed Hermione into the Gryffindor common room, and the entrance closed up behind them.

 

Henry took a moment to take it all in, the red carpeted floors, the fire roaring in the fireplace, exactly as he’d imagined it and nearly an exact replica of the movie sets.

 

“Come on!” Hermione whispered.

 

Hermione hurried to the staircases, and went up the boys staircase. Henry followed her, and soon enough, they were at the door to Harry and Ron’s dormitory.

 

“Boy, am I glad that gender role lets girls up this staircase,” Hermione said under her breath.

 

She pushed open the door cautiously. “Hello? Anyone here?”

 

No one answered, and Hermione opened the door fully and checked completely.

 

“We’re good. Harry’s bed is that one,” she said, pointing. 

 

Henry nodded, and looked under the bed while Hermione opened up the dresser. Hermione dug through the dresser for a good two minutes before realizing it wasn’t in there, and Harry found nothing but dust under the bed.

 

“I think it’s stuffed in the bottom of his trunk,” Henry said. “Or, at least it was in the books.”

 

Hermione pulled Harry’s trunk away from the bedpost where he’d thrown it, and opened it up.

 

Henry knelt over it with her, and they dug through battered textbooks, broken quills, and a roll of tape before finding it.

 

Hermione held up the silvery cloak triumphantly. “Haha! Nice memory, Henry.”

 

Henry grinned. “I’m too good.”

 

Hermione shook her head, and threw the cloak over Henry. “Perfect,” she nodded.

 

She turned back to the trunk, and slammed the lid. She pushed it up against the wall it’d been next to before, and the two of them quickly left the dormitory. They headed down the stairs, luckily encountering no one, and left through the portrait whole.

 

“Eh? Where’s your friend?” the Fat Lady asked.

 

Hermione smiled. “Told you, he’d been gone before you knew it!”

 

“Hey!” the Fat Lady called after Hermione as the two walked away. “You can’t just leave me hanging here!”

 

They heard her laugh to herself. “Haha! Hanging here! I’m a genius! This calls for a celebratory drink!”

 

Henry smiled to himself despite it being seen by no one. 

 

They walked a good distance before Hermione whispered to Henry. “I’m going to go hang out with Harry and Ron by the lake, you go back to the Room of Requirement for now.”

 

Henry nodded before realizing. “Okay, sure.”

 

“You know your way back, right?” Hermione asked.

 

Harry thought for a moment. “Uh, no.”

 

Hermione sighed. “Alright, let me walk you there.”

 

“Sorry,” Henry apologized.

 

“Oh, it’s totally fine Henry. Just tired, that’s all.”

 

Hermione then led Henry back to the hall the Room of Requirement and waited around to make sure she saw the door appear and open for the invisible Henry before walking down to the Black Lake.

 

She pushed open the side door she was using and hurried past the dementors guarding the castle against Sirius Black to reach the lake. After a short walk, it was easy to see that a huge amount of the school was gathered around the lake, enjoying this rare day of heat. Students were sitting under trees, talking with friends or doing their homework outdoors, while others ran around, playing games.

 

It wasn’t as if the dementors were making this school year any warmer.

 

Harry and Ron saw her before she saw them.

 

“Hermione!” she heard Ron call out.

 

She turned around, and saw them sitting in front of the Black Lake, watching some of the older students swim with the Giant Squid.

 

“Isn’t that water supposed to be cold?” Hermione asked when she walked to where they were sitting.

 

“It’s nice on a hot day,” Ron said.

 

“We went swimming in it when we first got here,” Harry explained. “It was super nice.”

 

Hermione nodded, and sat down next to them, her hand falling on a silver hairband.

 

She held it up. “This is really nice! I wonder why someone left it behind.”

 

“Speaking of being left behind,” Henry said. “Where have you been all day?”

 

“Library,” Hermione said, expecting this question. “And you two better not have placed a bet on it this time!”

 

Ron shook his head. “We both knew you’d gone to the Library. It’s what you do.”

 

“You two are the worst!” Hermione exclaimed.

 

“You’re one to talk. You’ve been so tired and distant recently!” Harry said. “How many classes are you taking, Hermione?”

 

Hermione smiled, not sure of what to say. “A lot.”

 

“Sure sounds like it, jeez,” Ron said. “You say you’re going to catch up later, and turn up the next day. Doesn’t sound like later to me.”

 

Hermione pocketed the hairband and held up her hands. “Just arrest me now! Seriously guys, I’m fine. Stop worrying.”

 

She dropped her hands, and shook her head. “I’m only out here because I’ve been so busy with homework recently. I could be studying, you know.”

 

“Okay, okay, fine,” Harry smiled. “We’re still going to push you into the lake, though.”

 

Hermione stood up, as did Harry and Ron.

 

“Seriously?” Hermione exclaimed.

 

Harry grinned, and the two charged.

 

Hermione ran, but Harry still caught up, and carried her to the lake.

 

“Bon voyage!” he laughed, throwing her in.

 

Hermione landed with a splash, and came up from under the water a few seconds later.

 

Harry pointed at her laughing, but almost immediately afterwords, Ron barreled into Harry’s back, and the two came tumbling into the water as well.

 

“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? Swim day!” Hermione said accusingly.

 

“You’ve got me.” Harry laughed.

 

Hermione splashed him, and then Ron splashed her in retaliation, starting a splash fight.

 

A good amount of time passed before the three of them left the lake and returned to the castle. Hermione slipped the silver hairband into her hair to help it dry correctly, trusting the water of the Black Lake to have washed it off well enough.

 

She entered the Room of Requirement, and saw Henry watching Parks and Recreation on the tv.

 

“I’ve added more stories to our list. Not this one, they’re American government workers, but other ones,” he said. “I’m guessing you went for a swim?”

 

“Harry and Ron pushed me into the lake,” she explained. ‘

 

“And I’m guessing you really weren't complaining?” Henry smiled.

 

Hermione glared at him. 

 

“You were so happy, I could feel it through our link,” Henry said, pointing to his head. “So no, you weren’t complaining.”

 

“Okay, you win! But we have a speech to give,” Hermione said.

 

“Might wanna fix those clothes,” Henry said jokingly.

 

Hermione glared at him again, and grabbed her wand. She pointed at at her clothes and said a spell that caused hot air to stream out of the end of her wand and dry her clothes and hair.

 

“Okay then, you’re ready for dinner!” Henry exclaimed. He grabbed the invisibility cloak from where he’d left it on the couch beside him, and put it over his head. “What do you think Hermione? How do I look?”

 

Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’re almost as bad as Harry and Ron.”

 

Hermione grabbed her book bag, and opened the door for Henry so they could head to dinner. They reached the Great Hall before long, Henry admiring the floating candles and enchanted ceiling from under the invisibility cloak.

 

They headed for the Gryffindor table, and Hermione sat down, placing her book bag strategically so no one would try to sit where Henry ended up sitting invisibly. Harry and Ron sat next to her before long, changed out of their wet clothes.

 

“How’d you get your clothes dry?” Harry asked.

 

Hermione shook her head sadly. “You two really need to pay attention in Charms.”

 

The food appeared on the table before long. Hermione carefully slipped Henry some tasty treats, which he ate under the invisibility cloak.

 

Professor Dumbledore stopped their meal after about a half hour, pushing his chair away from the table, and standing up. “I’m going to need to ask you all to stop eating for a few minutes. We have a pair that’d like to speak to you.”

 

The Great Hall filled with murmurs.

 

“This is weird,” Ron said to Harry.

 

“We almost never have speakers,” Harry agreed.

 

Professor Dumbledore spoke out above the noise. “Don’t you worry! There’ll still be plenty of time desert!”

 

Hermione stood up, and Henry took this as a sign to do the same, so he stood, and took off the invisibility cloak. He handed it to Harry. “I’m so sorry, won’t happen again!”

 

Harry just looked confused.

 

Harry and Hermione walked up to the front of the Great Hall, their hearts racing together, both of them equally nervous because of their link.

 

Professor McGonagall gave Hermione a nod of encouragement, and she started the speech, her voice magically amplified thanks to Professor Dumbledore.

 

“Some of you may know me as Hermione Granger. Or even the know-it-all. But I can assure you, you haven't met my twin, Henry.”

 

Henry picked up there, and it was obvious the Great Hall wasn’t expecting an American accent. “I’m Henry. Hermione and I have a special connection, known as the Germinus Contineco. You’ll probably have never heard of it, so basically this connection popping up usually means bad news.”

 

Hermione spoke again. “We’ve discovered all stories are real.” 

 

She paused for a second to let the news sink in, and for people to start doubting them.

 

“Our Professors can confirm this for you, just speak to them,” Hermione went on, hoping Professor Dumbledore had started to spread the news to them. “But, there’s bad news. We’ve learned that the villains from these stories are working together to get revenge on us, the heroes.”

 

“Or just the neutral,” Henry said. “Unless you’re besties with a villain, we need your help. We can only beat these villains with your help.”

 

Slowly, the various houses agreed to join them, and Henry and Hermione turned to each other, elated. They’d done it. They’d gotten their first group of heroes to join their cause.


	7. Flashbacks

Paris, Marya, Angelyn, and Marya had been locked in that room for around 24 hours, and no one had had the motivation to do much more than cry.

 

Matthias being taken from them, injured, probably close to death, broke something in Elijah. The things from his past he’d spent so much time blocking out all these years came back, the kind go things he didn’t talk about. It’d always been the unspoken agreement between Elijah and his brother, Richie.

 

But now, that it was all there, he had to tell someone.

 

“Guys…” he began, holding his glasses so he could furiously rub the tears out of his eyes. “I have to admit something. To all of you. Before… before we loose anyone else, alright? I’m done with keeping secrets.”

 

Angelyn turned to Elijah, curious, wiping tears off her face. “What is it?”

 

Marya nodded slowly. “The last thing I want to hear right now is a sob story, but if it makes you feel better, man.”

 

“Please. I could use a distraction,” Paris muttered.

 

Elijah took a deep breath, and, jamming his glasses back on his face, began his forbidden story. “Alright. Here goes. You’ve all probably wondered why Richie and I live with our Aunt Rhea. Well, back when we we’re younger, something happened one night when I was about seven years old.”

 

**July 10, 2007**

 

Elijah laid in bed, his green bedspread pulled up to his chin. Lightning crashed outside the window, shinning through his window and briefly illuminating his room. Elijah flinched at a sudden shadow one of his stuffed animals threw, the shadow resembling some sort of monster with sharp teeth. He glanced at his digital clock. 11:47pm.

 

Deciding he couldn’t see one more shadow, he threw off his covers. Elijah fumbled blindly in the dark for his bedside table, and eventually touched the box of tissues he had perched precariously on the edge. He carefully felt along the surface of the table until his hand fell upon his glasses.

 

Elijah then reached for his bedside post, and ripped off a flashlight he’d velcroed there a year back for when he needed to find the bathroom when it was dark in the hallway. He switched it on, and aimed it under his bed. No monsters.

 

Deeming it safe, Elijah rolled under. Lightning crashed again, and this time, Elijah didn’t see any oddly shaped shadows. Pleased with himself, Elijah fell on his back to look up at the bottom of his bed.

 

That mood didn’t last long, for about five minutes later, Elijah heard something downstairs. He froze up in terror, just looking up at the bottom of his bed. Not long after, his door slowly creaked open, and a figure slipped in.

 

Richie.

 

“There’s a strange man downstairs,” Richie whispered.

 

Elijah somehow overcame his crippling fear. “Under the bed, come on. He won’t see us here.”

 

Richie did as Elijah said, and Elijah reached out and grabbed Richie’s hand reassuringly. Elijah was older by just two minutes, but he still acted like the older sibling out of the two of them.

 

More noises came from downstairs, then the low murmur of voices, just barely loud enough to hear over the sound of the storm. There was a thud, and then silence. After that, they heard the unmistakable noise of someone climbing the stairs.

 

When the footsteps reached the landing, Elijah and Richie both instinctively held their breath. A figure stood at their doorway, only visible in the brief flashes of light the lightning provided. The two of them saw his feet walk over to Elijah’s closet, where he opened the door.

 

The man reached in, grabbed something, then left the room quickly.

 

Elijah and Richie stayed under the bed until the morning when the police arrived, called in by a neighbor who said she’d heard sounds of a struggle. The officer who was tasked with dealing with them just barely managed to convince the two of them to get out from under the bed.

 

“Listen, kids,” she said sadly. “Your mom… well, she’s had to go on a trip. So, you two will be going to stay with your um… Aunt Rhea, for now.”

 

The two nodded solemnly, and a week later, they were unpacking their suitcases in their shared bedroom in the town of Bentley, New Mexico.

 

“Elijah?” Richie asked. “We’re going to be okay here, right?”

 

Elijah forced a smile. “We still have each other, and that’s all that really matters, right? Mom will come back soon. Just… always look on the bright side, Richie. Always.”

 

Elijah and Richie didn’t find out until a year later that their mom had died that night and had only been sent to their mom’s sister because their dad still hadn’t shown up since he disappeared four years before that.

 

**2013**

 

“That’s the motto I’ve followed to this day,” Elijah said. “Always look on the bright side. Even if things look, well, impossible, there’s got to be a way.”

 

The three of them looked at him, mouths agape.

 

“E-Elijah, if I’d known-“ Angelyn stammered.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Angelyn. Until today, I haven’t spoken about that night. Not even to Richie.”

 

Angelyn looked around at the three of them with new conviction. “We have to get out of here before they kill us all.”

 

Marya sighed. “Hold on a minute there, Princess. Since we’re doing this whole ‘no secrets’ thing, I’ve gotta come clean too.”

 

Elijah cocked his head. “Wow. I’m not the only one.”

 

“It’s nowhere near yours, Elijah. I can promise you that.” Marya said.

 

“You have any secrets too, Angelyn?” Paris said with a forced laugh. “Everyone seems to have one these days. Henry, Greg, Olivia, Elijah, and now Marya…”

 

Angelyn shook her head. “You, me, and… well, anyway, we’re the tame ones.”

 

“Anyway,” Marya began. “Let me produce the evidence.” she pushed up one sleeve of her black jacket, revealing scars on her arm.

 

“I have- or well, had depression. ‘Have’ because after this whole thing, who knows? That’s the story, basically,” Marya went on. “There. Secrets out. Teas spilled. Whatever.”

 

“How did we have this many secrets within our small group?” Paris asked. “This whole thing, magic, you people, fictional characters, just everything! It’s completely… words don’t even describe.”

 

“Don’t you dare relapse into depression, Marya.” Angelyn jokingly threatened. “But seriously, come to us if you ever need to.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get back to that whole ‘getting out of here’ thing.” Marya muttered.

 

Paris pointed towards the wooden door. “One of you mentioned kicking this thing down. Clever. But I have a better idea.”

 

He stood up, and walked over to his blue backpack that he’d taken off and left in a corner sometime the day before. He unzipped the front pocket, and pulled out a screwdriver. Holding it up triumphantly, he returned to the group.

 

“Back a thousand years ago, when we were still having a normal school day, I was going to use this to work on my robot in robotics club after school.” he explained.

 

Elijah nodded. “That might work.”

 

“I’m still open to kicking things down,” Marya muttered.

 

Paris walked over to the door, and looked at the metal plate where a nob would have placed if there had been one on this side of the door. Sure enough, four screws. He’d called it. In a world of magic, nobody was going to expect someone to break through a lock with a screwdriver. Paris unscrewed the four bolts, and pulled the metal plate off the door. Sure enough, the door nob on the other side fell to the door with a clatter, and Paris could reach into the hole where the nob used to be, and pull it open.

 

Angelyn nodded. “Nice job.”

 

The other three moved to grab their backpacks, leaving Matthias’s in the corner Bellatrix has kicked it too. No one could muster up the willpower to touch it.

 

Paris looked out into the hallway, and noticed that it was empty. Another benefit to magic prisons, he guessed. No need for guards. “All clear.”

 

The four of them gathered just inside the doorway. 

 

“We’re sticking together,” Angelyn said right away. “I don’t want to be stuck wondering what happened to you guys.”

 

“Sounds good,” Elijah nodded.

 

“We have two goals, right? Find Matthias, if we can. Get out,” Angelyn went on.

 

“Think we could find keys?” Paris asked. “Like it’s a magic prison and all, but there’s gotta be a backup key ring somewhere.”

 

“Okay, keyring first,” Angelyn agreed.

 

“I’ll lead the way,” Marya said, walking out the door.

 

The other three didn’t bother to argue as she walked out into a long stone hallway lined with doors that looked the same as the one they’d just walked out of. It was lit weakly by something invisible, just as their cell has been. Magic, probably.

 

As the four of them walked cautiously down the hallway, they noticed that some of the doors had posters on them, featuring a crown motif on a purple background, the words ‘ _clean up needed’_ written on the bottom in a silvery script.

 

“This place is freaky,” Marya muttered into the endless hallway.

 

Eventually, they came to an intersection, and Marya took it, no hesitation. Sure enough, a little ways in, there was an alcove in the rock wall where there was a whole ring of keys just hanging there.

 

“They really were relying on magic,” Paris remarked.

 

“Should we just walk down this hallway and listen to see if he hear him?” Angelyn asked.

 

“We have no other options, so why not?” Marya said.

 

“Paris and I will keep to this side, you and Marya on the other,” Elijah suggested. “So we can listen to the doors.”

 

Angelyn nodded, and they split up like he suggested. After five minutes of walking they were all loosing hope when they heard s banging on one of the doors. 

 

“Hey! Let me out! I can tell there’s someone out there!” a muffled voice came from a door.

 

It wasn’t Matthias’s, but it was a sign of life.

 

Marya looked at everyone else, wondering what to do, and Angelyn nodded. Marya shot her a look of confusion, but went forward with the keys anyway. She picked up the one marked prison, and unlocked it.

 

A boy looked hesitantly out, and when he saw it was a group of 13 year olds, stumbled out of his cell. He had black hair and olive skin, looking to be about 15.

 

“Geez. Thanks,” he smiled. “I’m Nico di Angelo.”

 

“I’ve heard of you,” Marya nodded.

 

He gave her a confused look, but didn’t ask her.

 

Angelyn went ahead and introduced them. “I’m Angelyn, and then, Marya, Paris, and Elijah.”

 

“We’re looking for our friend, Matthias-“ Paris said before he was cut off by the sound of a siren.

 

“They’ve noticed my door was unlocked,” Nico spat. “Come on, I’ve got a way out.”

 

“Which is?” Marya almost screamed.

 

“Just- grab my hands, okay? You’ll see. This is gonna be rough, these tunnels… there’s something off about them.”

 

The four of them did as he said, and Nico closed his eyes. The tunnel they were standing in faded away, just as a group of armored guards rounded the corner. A large, black glassy plain briefly faded into existence, and then a second later, the five of them were on the side of a road, a pine tree covered hill stretching up in front of them. It was nighttime, and they could hear the chirp of crickets.

 

“We- we made it,” Nico panted, hands on his knees.

 

“Are you alright?” Angelyn asked.

 

“I will be- in a bit. I’m-“ he chuckled. “Not supposed to do that anymore, according to my doctor. But desperate times call for desperate measures.”

 

“Seriously dude, are you alright? You’re super pale,” Marya demanded.

 

“That can’t be healthy,” Elijah said.

 

“Listen.” Nico coughed. “You guys carry me up the hill, and I can help us find a doctor.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Paris said.

 

He and Marya lifted Nico up. They then started up the hill, Elijah and Angelyn telling them where not to step in case they tripped over a tree root or just straight up smacked into a tree itself. It wasn’t easy for them, carrying someone up a hill.

 

When they were nearing the top, Nico stopped them. “I can walk now.”

 

Paris and Marya put him down without complaint and he nearly collapsed.

 

“We’ll continue to support you- just no more carrying, okay?” Paris panted.

 

Nico nodded, and held on to Paris and Marya’s shoulders as their motley group slowly continued to climb the hill. When they reached the top, Angelyn turned to Nico.

 

“Um. I-I don’t see a doctor,” she announced. “And- er, where are we, exactly? I could have sworn I heard waves down at the bottom of that hill, and New Mexico is nowhere near an ocean.

 

“Okay,” Nico nodded. “I’ll try to explain this to you guys in a way you’ll understand.”

 

Angelyn shook her head furiously.

 

“Nico, we’ll get you to your doctor, wherever he is. That’s more important,” Elijah insisted.

 

“You guys just don’t understand. I’ll be fine, I always am, despite what my doctor what might say. I owe you guys this,” Nico said.

 

Angelyn frowned. “Alright. If you insist.”

 

“So… you said New Mexico, huh? That’s a distance. The base we escaped from, Shadowvein, is in New York. Right now, we’re on Long Island, I had the ability to travel us this far, so I did.” Nico explained. “I would have gone for California, just to avoid some people, but in those tunnels, I was lucky to get as far as here.”

 

“You keep on saying those tunnels are weird. Why? And like, traveling, what is that?” Paris asked.

 

“Shadowvein… the whole place is unnatural. Literally constructed out of some kind of dark magic that I can barely deal with. That’s why when I shadow traveled us out of there, I had to make a brief pitstop in the Land of the Shadows, the place where shadows go to die. I’ve found it makes it easier to travel further when you visit there.” Nico went on.

 

“There’s obviously a ton we all don’t understand here, so we’re just going to get you to your doctor,” Marya said.”Which is the last thing we need to ask you.”

 

Nico nodded, and said something in a language none of them could understand. Before their very eyes, a wooden entrance appeared, and in the empty valley below them, a camp that looked familiar to Marya materialized.

 

“Is that-?” Marya asked.

 

“Yes. Welcome to Camp Halfblood,” Nico said with a slight grin.

 

A large group approached the gate from inside the camp, lead by a girl in armor on a horse.

 

“Clarisse? What’s this?” Nico asked the person on the horse.

 

“I’m sorry Nico, but with that Shadowvein up in the mountains, we’ve had invaders and even people who look like our people but aren’t invading Camp Halfblood every day,” Clarisse, the girl on the horse said.

 

“Clarisse, listen, we’re all-“ 

 

“Oh shut it, son of Hades. You really think we’re going to let you in check free after a three month disappearance? It’s a difficult time for all of us, so you’re just going to have to deal with it,” Clarisse turned to her soldiers. “Take them to the attic!”

 

They nodded, and started to carry the five of them away.

 

“Wait!” Angelyn shouted. “Nico said he needs his doctor because he- um, shadow traveled!”

 

“He needs Will. Figures,” Clarisse snorted. “Soldiers, allow Will to tend to Nico before we throw him up in the attic with everyone else. Make sure Will is guarded too.”

 

Clarisse shook her head, and moved back into hiding with those of her soldiers who weren’t occupied.


	8. Thoughts

Paris, Angelyn, Marya, and Elijah were unceremoniously locked in the attic of the Big House., stripped of their backpacks and phones. The four of them looked around the room with a combination of fear and disgust, noticing that the room was filled with odd knickknacks and dust.

 

Angelyn dusted off a mirror, framed in gold with purple gems set along the edges. Noticing it was cracked, she set it back down.

 

“I wonder why all this stuff is up here,” she muttered. “That mirror looks like it could have been beautiful.”

 

Marya held up a a piece of black cloth, the top half red with two eye patterns sewn on. “This is weird,” She held it up to her face, and it completely covered it. She put it back down, shaking her head. “You’d need to be both desperate and ugly to wear that.”

 

Elijah dusted off an old chest, and sat down, Angelyn sitting down next to him. Paris found an armchair behind a stack of books, and tugged it out to sit in, while Marya shrugged and shoved some items off a table to sit down.

 

“So,” Marya said. “Two prisons in two days. We’re setting records here, guys.”

 

Paris scowled. “Shut up, Marya.”

 

Angelyn shook her head. “What are we doing? I… I stole my mom’s car, and drove it to Henry’s house. We got kidnapped by fictional characters, and held in their freaky magic rock tunnel, and then we probably watched Matthias die in front of us. And now here we are, at freaking Camp Halfblood. This can’t be real.”

 

Angelyn gave them a huge, fake smile. “We shouldn’t have been nosy. Just, let Henry burn down as many gyms as he pleases, I’m done.”

 

Paris leaned forward in his arm chair. “Listen, Angelyn. We’re trying here. It seemed logical to go after Henry, it wasn’t like any of us had any idea it would lead to this.”

 

“We have to remain strong,” Elijah said firmly.

 

“And who’s to say we should have even trusted that Nico guy?” Paris added. “That isn’t on you, Angelyn. That’s on all of us. This all is. And either way, he got us out of a bad place.”

 

“And into another,” Marya sighed.

 

The four of them lapsed into silence.

 

Four hours later, Angelyn was falling asleep on Elijah’s shoulder, who’d already fallen asleep against the bookcase the chest they were sitting on was pressed against. Paris and Marya had gotten up to look at more objects in the room, and Marya had found a strange horn when the door to the room opened, and Nico was shoved in, waking Angelyn and Elijah up.

 

“Listen Nico, I want to trust you, I do, we just can’t right now, alright?” a voice said.

 

“Alright, alright Percy. I get it,” Nico sighed.

 

The door shut, and they heard footsteps walking away. 

 

Nico turned to them. “Hey.”

 

Paris and Marya put down their objects, and returned to their seats, leaving Nico to stand and lean against the wall.

 

“Look, I’m sorry for dragging you all into this mess,” Nico sighed. “I had no idea Camp Halfblood was having issues with Shadowvein.”

 

“I’m not saying I trust you, but I’m saying I do believe you got us out of a worse situation,” Marya drawled. “So… thanks.”

 

“Thanks is a lot coming from her,” Paris added.

 

Nico shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”

 

“We’d probably trust you easier, but the four of us… we’re not sure what to trust these days,” Angelyn said, twirling a piece of hair.

 

“It’s been a rough couple of days,” Elijah sighed.

 

Nico raised an eyebrow, curiosity spiked. “Do tell.”

 

Marya sat up. “I’ll give you the short version. Our friend, Henry, decided to torch our gym, and he also has a secret twin, according to Bellatrix. So, the five of us decided to drive to his house, check it out, ya know?”

 

“You guys can drive?” Nico scoffed.

 

“Stolen car. Long story,” Marya said. “Anyway, his house was like, gone. And then next thing, Maleficent appears, and then, you know, we’re in Shadowvein. Then Bellatrix goes and has our friend, Matthias, stabbed, and then carried out of the room. So we broke the lock and escaped to try and find him, but-“

 

“You found me instead,” Nico nodded. “Jeez. So I’m taking this Matthias, that’s the reason you were all didn’t want to get out of there right away?”

 

“You’d also just asked us to grab your hands without explanation,” Paris said.

 

“We all get desperate, but hand holding? With four people? You’d have to be locked in there for a long time for the to work,” Marya said sarcastically.

 

“Really Marya?” Elijah asked.

 

Marya shrugged. “What’s wrong with a little humor in dark times?”

 

Nico ignored them. “Your Henry… my guess is he’d be a demigod to set the floor on fire like that. Maybe a Son of Hephaestus?”

 

“No way,” Marya said, shaking her head. “His parents were completely normal.”

 

“Parents, plural? Huh. Okay, that kind of kills my theory, but this twin- are you sure they’re actually a twin? Maybe this twin is actually their god… parent,” Nico went on.

 

“Bellatrix seemed pretty convinced,” Paris said.

 

“Okay. I was only asking because right after I got captured, the girl and boy who captured me were going on about this Henry character ruining their plans on world domination and revenge.”

 

“Woah, woah. Hold up. World domination?” Angelyn asked. “Bellatrix went on about revenge, and Henry trying to stop it, but nothing like that.”

 

“The boy seemed pretty certain of it.” Nico frowned.

 

“How did you get captured anyway?” Elijah asked.

 

“My story isn’t nearly as exciting as yours, but I was traveling back from Camp Jupiter, to here, actually, I was going to visit Will without an injury, for once, but that obviously didn’t happen…” Nico shook his head. “Anyway…”

 

**One Week Ago**

 

Nico slipped his black jacket on sullenly. Meetings with the Jupiter heads always made him anxious, and even after the war, they were still favored themselves over the Greeks. He flipped up the hood of his jacket, noticing a light rain start to fall on the pavement of Paulo Alto.

 

In Nico’s opinion, it rained way too often in California. He turned down a street he knew had a good park he could shadow travel away from without attracting any attention, and passed the bookstore that sat next to it. He pushed open the metal gate, and walked inside, backed hunched against the rain.

 

He was about to duck into his usual bush to start traveling back, but a blonde girl walked into the park, wearing a red rain coat and looking to be about 16. Even Nico noticed she was radiantly beautiful.

 

She noticed Nico, and ran over. “Do you know your way around this town? My friend and I are visiting from out of town and we’re so lost. _Cette ville est si confus!”_

 

Nico noticed she spoke with an accent, but it wasn’t French. “Way out of town, huh? Where’s your friend?”

 

The girl gave him a cocky smile. “Right behind you.”

 

Nico’s body froze up, and a dark haired boy walked around him. 

 

“Nicely done, Tatiana,” he said, not smiling. “This one would have been a problem.”

 

Tatiana gave him a pouty expression. “No smile? I try hard, you know!”

 

The boy shook his head. “No time for smiles. Not while Henry is out there, stopping our dreams of world domination.”

 

Tatiana frowned. “Don’t forget the revenge part.”

 

The boy nodded. “Of course.”

 

“I’ll take him to Shadowvein, you go to San Francisco and do what you need to do there. _C’est facile!”_ Tatiana smiled.

 

“Right,” the boy said.

 

Tatiana grabbed Nico’s arm.  “You’re going away for a long time. _Dommage pour toi._ ”

 

**2013**

 

Angelyn closed her eyes. “So this Tatiana… she spoke in a mixture of French and English?”

 

Nico nodded. “Yeah.”

 

Angelyn opened her eyes and sighed. “This Tatiana must be the Countess, from the Emerald Atlas. Shallow and manipulative.”

 

“Anyone heard of this boy?” Marya asked.

 

Everyone shook their heads. 

 

“If anyone, that’d be Henry. He’s read the most out of all of us.” Elijah said.

 

“Good point,” Paris agreed.

 

“We’re way in over our head, guys.” Angelyn muttered. “What do we have against these characters with powers?”

 

Nico smiled slightly. “I’m on your guy’s side here. You’re not completely alone against the people in Shadowvein. And apparently, this Henry and his twin are working to take these guys out.”

 

Angelyn nodded. “That doesn’t stop me from worrying, but, you’re right Nico.”

 

“I’m going to take a nap,” Nico announced. “That’s what Will recommended, so that’s what I’ll do.”

 

Marya held up a finger. “Hang on just one moment. You keep on talking about this Will… you say he’s your doctor, but who is he really?”

 

Nico shook his head. “He’s a friend.”

 

Marya rolled her eyes. “Seriously? That’s it?”

 

Nico yawned. “Angelyn, Elijah, could I use that chest?”

 

They nodded, and got off. Nico curled up on top of it, and was, amazingly, asleep within five minutes.

 

“That boy sleeps fast,” Marya said, shaking her head.

 

The four of them went back to wandering the room, and about fifteen minutes later, Elijah, Paris, and Angelyn all had drifted towards the same spot, a corner of the room behind a bookcase on one side and a rack of musty clothing on the other.

 

“Can I talk to you guys about something?” Paris asked.

 

“Sure,” Angelyn said, sitting down on the floor.

 

Elijah and Paris followed suit.

 

“I’ve been going over everything in my mind over and over again, and something just doesn’t add up. I mean, first, the secret twin. That’s somehow more understandable than him setting fire to the gym, in my opinion.” Paris explained.

 

Elijah opened his mouth to comment, but Paris cut him off.

 

“Hang on, just let me finish. We don’t know if anyone was injured in that fire, because, well, we’re here, and it isn’t like our phones worked in Shadowvein, and they took them here. Then he separated the five of us from everyone else, and somehow made his house disappear. Henry had to have known the five of us would want to figure this out, right? What if he was secretly planning for us to end up in Shadowvein all along?”

 

Angelyn rubbed her head. “That’s some good reasoning, Paris, but frankly, I don’t think Henry would be smart enough to pull something like that off. Sure, he’s near the top of our class, but nowhere near where you’re at.”

 

“Don’t forget this twin though. Maybe this person is the smarter one out of the two?” Elijah brought up.

 

Paris nodded. “That might be it.”

 

“But then what Bellatrix said- that he’s working against them- what would that mean?” Angelyn asked. “And then the Countess and that boy saying that they wanted world domination and revenge…”

 

“Maybe Henry and his twin want the same thing?” Paris mused. “Get rid of the five of us at Shadowvein, his house is gone, then he probably has something else planned for Greg and Olivia, and then bam, those two have no ties to anywhere and are free to go.”

 

Marya walked around the bookcase and shot a scathing glare at all of them. “I can’t believe you guys. Henry is our friend of three years now! You really think Henry, out of all of us, has the stomach for killing us? If anyone, that’d be me or Greg.”

 

“But Marya, you have to admit-“ Paris started to say.

 

“Don’t you start. I don’t have to admit anything. Henry is a good person, and I know that.”

 

“Even after burning down a gym, making his house disappear, and then indirectly being a factor in Matthias’s death?” Angelyn said.

 

“Look. The three of you sound like conspiracy theorists right now. There’s no way Henry and this twin somehow manipulated the five of us from afar.”

 

“You were listening, weren’t you?” Elijah said.

 

“Yeah, you better bet I was. It isn’t like this attic has unlimited space and items to look at. Anyway, Henry has been too good of a person to me, to all of us for you guys to even suspect that!” Marya exclaimed.

 

“To you?” Paris asked. “Why specifically you?”

 

Marya let out a deep sigh. “Alright. Henry knew about my whole depression thing back when it was a thing, and helped me out of it.”

 

There was a long pause.

 

“So… you’re saying he knew the whole time, and never told us about you? Never told your other friends who could have also helped?” Elijah asked hesitantly.

 

Marya opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Elijah had a point. Too good of a point. If anything, that painted Henry in even worse of a light, keeping this massive thing about her a secret from all of them. And it wasn’t like she’d helped by waiting until after Matthias was stabbed in front of them.

 

Angelyn and Paris looked at Elijah, surprised he was the first to say that.

 

“Why only tell Henry?” Elijah asked.

 

“I- I trusted Henry more than I trusted any of you guys at the time. That sounds bad, but this was seventh grade, okay? That’s a rough time for everyone!” Marya stammered.

 

“Thanks for the confidence in us, your friends, Marya,” Angelyn said, shaking her head. She rose to her feet. “It’s okay to tell us stuff before another of us gets murdered, okay?”

 

Angelyn walked away, and Marya turned to Paris and Elijah. “I was just trying to say Henry was a decent person. It’s just, time passed, and me telling you this became less nessacary?”

 

Paris stood up, like Angelyn. “We care about you, Marya. That’s why we’re so upset about this.” He then walked after Angelyn.

 

Elijah stood up, and nodded. “I get you, Marya. Why bring up the past if it just brings up bad memories? I think they’re so irritated just because you picked favorites, and picking a favorite friend in the squad after it’s already been established is kind of rude to the rest of us. But yeah, I’m with you on this.”

 

Marya laughed slightly. “Thanks, Elijah. You think they’ll get over it soon?”

 

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

 

“You know what? I think this is the first time I’ve appreciated your optimism.”

 

“Jeez. You’re just, forever a savage, aren’t you?” Elijah joked.

 

Marya winced. “Ah, sorry Elijah! My rude comments just come out naturally.”

 

Just then, they heard the door to the attic creeping open, so Marya and Elijah walked out of the corner to see a boy with blond hair looking into the attic.

 

He smiled awkwardly. “We’re all real sorry for this. Just routine screening, you know? Checking with our Shadowvein spies and googling your names… You four do know you’re missing in… um…” he looked down at a clipboard. “…in Bentley, New Mexico, along with a Matthias Delgado and Henry Granger, right?”

 

Angelyn nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“And you don’t want us to call the number this article gives us, right?” the boy asked.

 

Paris shook his head. “Not yet. We still have some stuff to figure out.”

 

The boy waited for everyone else to nod their confirmation, which they did after some hesitation.

 

“Alright then. Your four are welcome to go downstairs, if you can find the dining room, there’s food laid out for you there. And we’ve set up a guest room for the four of you, I’ll have Nico show that to you after he wakes up.”

 

Marya smiled. “Oh! Are you Nico’s doctor… Will? That’s the friend he traveled from California for?”

 

The boy nodded. “Yeah, I’m Will. And wow, no idea he traveled all the way from Cali!” 

 

Will walked into the room so he could stand by the chest Nico was sleeping on. He held up his clipboard. “I’ve got a few more medical forms to fill out, you four can leave.”

 

“Thanks,” Paris said.

 

“No problem,” Will muttered, trying to fill out the forms.

 

The four of them left the room and entered the short hallway outside the attic that led to a ladder.

 

“So. Nico and Will. Can anyone else see it?” Marya asked.


	9. Slaughter

It had been four days since Henry had set fire to the gym and Angelyn, Paris, Marya, Elijah, and Matthias had dropped off the face of the earth.

Olivia stared sullenly out the bus window. School was starting up again today after being shut down while they searched the gym. Usually, Angelyn would be sitting next to her, but because she’d disappeared, Olivia was alone.

She’d almost skipped school that morning, only just deciding to get ready for the day when her mom suggested that it might be a good idea to get out of the house and focus on something other than her missing friends. It was a cloudy morning, the rising sun blocked out by clouds that looked like they’d rain thunder down later that day.

The bus arrived at school far earlier than Olivia would have liked, and she sighed as she picked up her backpack from the empty space next to her and slung it over one shoulder. She climbed off the bus, and looked up at the brick building, the large windows that looked down on this central plaza looking cruel and unforgiving this morning.

Olivia sighed and shook her head. She was being stupid. It wasn’t like having only Greg and her new friend, Ari, left for company was any help to her outlook on life right now. She passed by the place she’d talked to everyone that day before climbing into her mom’s car, and shuddered. She shouldn’t have left so early, she should have gone with them to Angelyn’s house, and then maybe, they could be here today.

She walked faster, zipping up the white jacket she was wearing as if a sudden chill had fallen. Olivia pushed open the glass doors and entering the lobby, the coyote statue giving her an almost accusatory look. She walked on, entering a hallway lined with lockers. She walked a short way before finding hers, and twisted the combination code into the lock to open it up.

On the inside of the door, there was a picture of the eight of them, smiling for a photo in Henry’s front yard last Halloween. Olivia closed her eyes, not wanting to see it. Every time she thought of any of them, she was consumed with worry. She was in no way the mom friend, but she couldn’t help but fear after stealing that car, Henry had somehow caught up with them and torched them like he’d torched their gym.

Olivia yanked out her algebra textbook and slammed the locker. She spun the lock and headed to her homeroom. She entered and sat at the table she’d always sat at with Henry, Marya, and Greg. No one was there yet. Knowing Greg, Olivia guessed he’d probably ditched school today.

But to her surprise, Greg entered the room, obviously exhausted. There were bags under his eyes, and it looked as if he’d thrown on whatever was the first thing he’d found on his floor was.

“Greg? You alright?” Olivia asked.

Greg shook his head. “I really don’t want to be here today.”

“None of us do, bud,” Olivia sighed. “But seriously, you look like you were hit by a bus.”

“I’m fine, Olivia. Really,” Greg assured her. “Still here to be the best! Haha…”

“You don’t even sound like yourself, man,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “But then again, I doubt I do either. I’m just tearing myself up over the rest of our group missing… Like, what if Henry got to them?”

“Henry?”

“Yeah. Remember him? Squad member for three years straight until he torched our gym?”

“Jeez Olivia, lay off,” Greg said, defending Henry.

Olivia put her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, Greg. Just way too on edge today.”

Greg looked at Olivia, something on the tip of his tongue. He was about to speak, but the bell rang, and the teacher walked in.

“It’s been a few days, but we’re still going to resume classes as usual. Before I do roll call, I have an announcement. Gym will be held in the cafeteria indefinitely because we don’t currently have the funds to build a new one.”

The whole class sighed.

The teacher ignored them. “Alright, I’ll start roll.”

Olivia zoned out for most of roll, just barely catching her name.

The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom, and Olivia swung her bag onto her shoulder, standing up.

“Hey, Olivia,” Greg called out just before she left the room.

Olivia turned around. “What’s up, Greg? Make it quick, you know my first period is on the other side of school.”

Greg thought for a moment. “No, never mind. I’ll talk to you after school, alright?”

“Okay, Greg,” Olivia said, shooting him a weird look.

She walked out of the room, turning back a few times to look at Greg. She had no idea what was up with him, Greg was usually the most closed off and least emotional out of all of them. Seeing him like that was just… bizarre. Olivia shoved it to the back of her mind for the time being, decided to confront him in gym class, the only period she had with him.

Periods dragged by that day, the friends she usually had in each class gone. Henry was missing from Math, Angelyn and Paris from English, Elijah from Science, Matthias and Angelyn in History… she even missed Alex and Zak in Health. They weren’t even missing, their parents had pulled them out of school and moved across the country together because the two families were close. She even ate lunch alone, both Greg and Ari having the other lunch.

By the time gym rolled around, the second to last period of the day, Olivia was exhausted and really looking forward to seeing Greg and Ari. She headed towards the cafeteria for the second time that day. All the lunch tables had been folded up and pushed against the large windows that looked out onto the central courtyard, only one table in a corner was left.

Ari was seated at that table, sitting all alone. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a jersey for the Northridge Coyotes. She’d moved to Bentley in the summer, and she and Olivia had bonded in Culinary Arts, her last period of the day.

Olivia sat next to her and sighed.

“What’s up, Olivia?” Ari asked.

“Everyone’s gone, Ari. It’s just me and Greg left, everyone else just dropped of the face of the earth,” Olivia explained.

Ari frowned. “Ooh, that's right. All those people missing… those people are all your friends. Jeez! I’m sorry Olivia.”

Olivia smiled sadly. “I probably should have ditched today. Greg too, I saw him this morning, and he was a wreck.”

“Greg Perez, a wreck? Impossible!” Ari exclaimed.

“You’ll see when he shows up.”

Ari frowned, then after a moment of hesitation, said “I stay sane in tough times with this.” She pulled a necklace up over her head. On the end, a small dream catcher hung. “My mother gave it to me for my 12th birthday, said it’s been passed through the hands of my ancestors since before the English came. And my ancestors kept it hidden throughout everything, even the missionaries.”

“Wow. That must have been rough,” Olivia remarked.

Ari nodded. “I think… you could use it more than I could right now.”

Olivia shook her head. “Woah! No way, Ari. That’s a family heirloom, I couldn’t.”

Ari thought for a moment. “Okay. How about this then? I’ll lend it to you, you give it back when you’re okay again.”

“And if I’m never okay again?”

Ari gave Olivia a disappointed look. “Listen, Olivia. You will be okay again. This dream catcher has never failed. You do know what dream catchers are said to do, right? They catch all the bad dreams. Don’t let the negative thoughts come to you.”

Ari slipped the necklace around Olivia’s neck. “I’m not taking that back until you’re okay.”

Olivia let herself smile. “Jeez, Ari. You care too much.”

Ari grinned back. “I can’t sit back and let a friend suffer.”

The coach entered the cafeteria and blew his whistle, cutting Olivia and Ari’s conversation short. Olivia walked over to the stacked tables, and she and Ari put their bags down. She looked around for Greg and saw that he was nowhere to be found. Figured. He probably hated looking that run down in front of everyone, and went home. No answers for her then.

“Alright, class!” the coach shouted. “We will not have any fires again this period, you hear me?”

“Yes, coach,” the class said in a monotone.

The coach walked to a supply closet in the back of the room, and pulled out two nets and a soccer ball, which he passed to the nearest students to set up.

“We’ll be playing soccer today, alright? You guys know the rules.” the coach went on.

He divided the class into two teams, and to Olivia’s joy, she and Ari were on the same team. The two teams started to kick the ball around while the coach walked to the table that had been left out and sat down, taking out his phone.

Around two minutes into the game, the doors between the cafeteria and the outside flew open, and the tables stacked in front of them flew across the room, students narrowly dodging them. The soccer ball was kicked one last time, and it ended up under the coach’s table, causing him to look up from his phone.

Olivia watched, confused. Had that been an unusually strong gust of wind?

“Hey!” he shouted. “Who opened the doors?”

His question was answered when a beautiful girl with flowing blonde hair, looking to be about 16, strode into the room. She was wearing a silvery gown, and somehow looked radiant, even under the nasty fluorescent lighting of the cafeteria.

“Why, me!” she giggled.

The strange woman waltzed across the cafeteria to get to the coach. “Bonjour, my coach.” she whispered.

“W-what are y-y-you doing, young miss?” the coach stammered.

“Surprised to see a pretty girl like me in a dingy place like this? Oh la la! Don’t you worry. I won’t be long.”

She stroked the coach’s cheek. “Dormir, mon chéri.”

The coach’s phone slipped from his hand and clattered on the ground as he slumped over, very clearly asleep.

“We’ll see if we need to kill him later,” the girl shrugged.

She waved her hand, and the doors that joined the cafeteria with the rest of the school slammed shut. Ice spread over the door, freezing it shut.

“You children may call me the Countess,” the girl said. “Now, let’s go outdoors.”

Olivia was beyond confused. This woman had just frozen doors shut! With her hand! This couldn’t be happening. She had to wake up. Olivia and Ari shared very concerned looks and headed outside with the rest of the class. Maybe Greg had had the right idea in ditching class today.

Outside, they were met with a woman wearing a tattered black dress, her hair in disarray and an older man in a wheelchair. Olivia immediately recognized the woman as Bellatrix Lestrange. But how? She wasn’t real. Maybe it was just someone dressed as her? But- this Countess has just frozen those doors shut…

As soon as everyone was outside, the Countess followed them out and froze the doors behind her, locking the coach in the room in case he woke up. The class gathered out on the cement area, some of them overflowing into the parking lot, too afraid to say anything.

The Countess curtsied and moved to stand with her comrades. “Curtain, do your thing.”

The man in the wheelchair pressed a button and zoomed forward, stopping just barely a foot away from a student who flinched. He stared the student down through tinted sunglasses. “Tell us,” he growled in a low voice. “Where is Henry?”

Olivia couldn’t believe she’d just heard that name, but she managed to keep her face blank. She could tell Ari was giving her a look, but she didn’t acknowledge it. She didn’t feel safe doing anything more than blinking.

The student shrugged, and Mr. Curtain zoomed to another. This kept happened, everyone too afraid to answer, and eventually, he gave up and zoomed back to the Countess and Bellatrix.

“Really, Curtain? That’s all you can do?” Bellatrix drawled. “Let Auntie Bellatrix show you how it’s done!”

She stepped forward. “We know Henry was in your class. Our source has never been wrong! Now tell us, where is he?”

No one spoke. “Speak. Now,” she ordered. She then pulled a knife out of her dress. “Because it really would be a shame if my hand were to… slip!”

She moved her hand forward, and someone screamed, but the knife didn’t leave her hand.

“He-he disappeared four days ago!” a jock stammered. “Please, Auntie Bellatrix, spare us!”

She snorted. “My name just stuck.”

The Countess walked forward to speak with Bellatrix. “Ask them about the other four.”

“Since you are obviously so worthless, answer this simple question- where are Angelyn, Paris, Elijah, and Marya?” Bellatrix snarled.

“And a brat called Nico,” the Countess said, almost under her breath. “My capture! Escaping!”

“They’re all missing, Misses. No one’s seen them in days,” one girl said quietly.

Bellatrix walked forward, and grabbed the girl’s chin. “My girl. You have to speak up if you want to be heard in this world!”

She violenty let her go, and stepped back. “This is worthless. These imbeciles know nothing.”

The Countess nodded to Mr. Curtain. “Call Mal.”

Mr. Curtain nodded, and pressed a button on his wheelchair. A minute later, someone everyone recognized appeared in front of them. The jealous green fairy, Maleficent.

Olivia was genially panicking now, and glanced at everyone around her. To her amazement, she spotted Greg, recognizable by his square rimmed glasses. He was hidden behind a tree in a planter that was planted along the side of the school, located out of sight of the villains, but visible to Olivia, who was at the back of the crowd.

Greg opened his eyes wide and urgently motioned for Olivia to dive into the bushes that bordered the edges of the parking lot, something she was actually fairly close to. Olivia looked at him, wide eyed and confused.

“You know the drill, Mal.” Bellatrix said.

Maleficent began to raise her staff. Olivia turned to Ari, and urgently tried to motion the same things Greg did to her. Hoping her message got across, Olivia waited until Bellatrix, the Countess, and Mr. Curtain weren’t looking at her, and hoping Maleficent was too distracted by her spell, she dived into the bushes. The branches cut her, but she ignored the pain for the time being.

No one but Ari noticed her escape, her started to copy her motions. Olivia watched as Greg shot Olivia a sad smile before running as fast as he could down the sidewalk that ran down the side of the school, probably getting ready to leave the property.

Green lightning shot out of the orb on the top of Maleficent’s staff, striking every student except Olivia, who was hidden from sight. Olivia watched in horror as the green lightning struck Ari on the back, and watched as she grimaced in pain and fell to the ground, along with the rest of the class. Olivia passed out.


	10. A New Plan

Henry and Hermione were packing up the last of their things for their trip to speak to all the heroes. They’d packed almost everything, clothes, electronics, books. They’d even received gifts. Umbridge posed as herself in this time and contacted the ministry, asking for a high level object not many knew about, a credit card shaped object that would confuse the muggle cash registers and allow them to purchase what they needed. However, she did warn them not to use it for much more than food.

Professor McGonagall said she’d tried to contact a doctor friend, but said he didn’t answer her call. So instead, she gave them a bag that was bigger on the inside. Professor Dumbledore lent them some books from his own collection, saying there were spells in there not meant for Hogwarts.

There was a knock at the door, and seeing that Henry was in the shower, Hermione walked over to the door and opened it. Harry and Ron walked in, hands behind their backs.

“Wow, Hermione. You really do get the nicest room,” Harry smiled.

“Perks of having a foreign twin,” Hermione nodded.

“Well, anyway, I’ve come to lend this to you,” Harry said, showing her his invisibility cloak.

“Harry! No, I couldn’t possibly!”

“Listen. Professor Dumbledore told me I can tell him if I ever need it back, he’ll contact you two.”

“Well, if you insist…” Hermione said, taking it.

Ron pulled out a basket of food. “My mum heard about your trip, and she just couldn’t resist.”

“Now that I can take,” Hermione laughed, grabbing it.

She put both of the gifts on the dining room table, then walked back to Harry and Ron.

Hermione suddenly ran forward and hugged both of them. “I’m going to miss both of you so much!”

“We’ll miss you too Hermione,” Harry coughed.

“You’re as bad as my mum!” Ron exclaimed.

Hermione let them go and backed away. “You two have class today so you’d better get going.”

Harry looked at Hermione and nodded. “Good luck.”

“You’ve got this,” Ron added.

The two left the room, and Hermione sighed. This was rough, saying bye to her two best friends. But Henry… His friends were all missing, minus like two left at his school. Hermione heard the shower turn off, so she walked over to a mirror that hung right next to the door inside her bedroom.

“Northridge Middle School,” she said. wand pointed at the mirror.

She trusted that if she wished for this mirror to be a scrying mirror in the Room of Requirement, it would become one.

Sure enough, her reflection in the mirror blurred, and an image of a one story brick building came into view. She frowned. Henry had said Northridge sucked, but she had no idea it looked that bad. Didn’t help it was located in the desert sands of Bentley, New Mexico.

The view panned in, and Hermione saw something on the pavement. No, somethings. Realizing what it was, she screamed, and Henry came running out of the bathroom, thankfully fully clothed.

Henry stared at the image, shocked. These were innocent people he’d seen in the hallway everyday, collapsed on the pavement. Henry was genially terrified now.

“Do- do you think they know about us trying to fight back?” Henry stammered.

Hermione nodded solemnly.

Henry didn’t have to voice his next worry. They were both thinking the same thought, and communicating silently that way.

If they knew he’d gone to Northridge… that meant everyone, all of his friends were in terrible danger. Maybe the missing ones were safer than Olivia and Greg, who still suffered through days of school.

Back at Northridge, Olivia woke up from passing out. She didn’t want to open her eyes, so she just lay there for a few moments until the cuts from the bushes she’d jumped into forced her eyes awake. She carefully stood up, and noticed Ari, collapsed on the ground about two feet away from the bushes.

Ari, a girl who’d moved here less than two months ago for her health, finding it hard to breath in the more humid climates she’d come from. She was huge on her Native American heritage, she’d even founded the Northridge Native American club. Ari was quickly becoming one of Olivia’s closest friends, so much so that she had plans to introduce her to the rest of her group so she could join them. Ari had even gotten straight As, giving the smartest kids in the school a run for their money.

Olivia reached for her dream catcher that now hung around her neck and looked down at her sadly.

“You shouldn’t have given this to me,” she whispered. “You needed it more. You needed… your good luck charm.”

Olivia furiously wiped away tears. Everyone she knew, missing, probably a terrorist, dead, or… Greg.

She wiped her head around, looking at the path Greg had run down. He was nowhere to be seen. Olivia wiped away more tears. She was going to figure out a way to stop this from happening again- with or without Greg. She owed that to Ari.

Olivia carefully walked across the courtyard, and noticed the doors were unfrozen. She pushed them open carefully. “Coach?”

There was no response.

She walked in, looking around just in case something decided to attack. The room was lit only by the light entering through the few windows that weren’t blocked by stacked tables. She reached down and grabbed her bag from where’d she left it. She slung it over a shoulder, and dug inside for her phone. When she found it, she held it out in front of her and turned on the flashlight.

The sight that met her eyes almost caused her to vomit. The coach had fallen on the floor, bloodied and very obviously dead. She coughed, and ran for the doors that led into the rest of the school, thankfully also unfrozen.

Standing in the lobby, she quickly ran through possible solutions in her head. She didn’t trust the school to get anything done, so she wouldn’t bother reporting it to the principal. If anything, it would be better to go straight to the cops. And if she wanted to do that… she’d need a car. The nearest police station was a good 15 minute drive away.

The only option was to report this to the authorities. Who know what these psychopaths would target next? A preschool? A hospital? Where else has Henry been in his life? And with… whatever strange weapon they’d used, they were unstoppable.

But where would she get a car? Olivia looked down to the ground, and cursed her stupidity. But, on the ground, there was a pink slip of paper. And Olivia knew what that was. A nurse pass. She was already injured. Maybe she could distract her, swipe her keys, and then take her car.

Olivia bent down and grabbed the piece of paper. Greg Perez. 1:30. Headache. the paper stated. Huh. That was obviously how Greg had gotten out of class and to behind that tree in time. 1:30 was five minutes before the period before gym class started. He’d timed that perfectly.

Olivia pulled a pencil out of her bag and walked over to the platform the coyote statue stood on. She erased Greg’s name and wrote in hers, then looked at the clock in the lobby and changed the time to 2:37. School let out in less than an hour, she had to be quick.

The office was near the gym, which had it’s door covered in yellow police tape. Olivia put on her hurt face and stumbled into the office. No one was in, which was perfect for her, so she went straight to the nurse’s office, which was inside another room within the office.

The nurse looked up when Olivia entered, and gasped. “Honey, what happened to you?”

Olivia passed the nurse the note.

“Olivia, honey. You do not just have a headache,” the nurse said.

“My teacher only wanted to write down one symptom, we were outside for science class, investigating plants, and I fell into one of the bushes because my headache got really bad.”

The nurse stared her down for a minute.

“Um,” Olivia muttered.

“I’ll set up a bed for you,” the nurse said. “Want me to call your parents?”

Olivia shook her head. “School’s almost out, I’ll make it.”

The nurse nodded, and stood up from her small desk to walk down a short hallway behind it, back to where three beds were laid out, curtains between them. They were all empty. Perfect. The nurse directed Olivia towards the bed on the far left, then pulled the curtain all the way around the bed to give her privacy. Olivia immediately rolled out of bed, and looked under the curtain.

She watched as the nurse’s black heels clicked their way back to her desk, sitting back down. Olivia cursed to herself. If that nurse didn’t leave, school was going to end and her parents were going to arrive to pick her up from school, see what had happened, and pull her out of school. Probably move her across the country too. She needed to look into this, alert the authorities, do something for Ari and figure out what had happened to her friends. She knew she’d never rest peacefully again without at least trying.

15 minutes passed before the nurse spoke to her. “Listen, Olivia honey, I’m going to go use the bathroom and probably buy myself a snack from the vending machine. Don’t go anywhere! I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

“Okay,” Olivia said with a fake cough.

The nurse clicked her way out of the room, and Olivia stood up and pushed back the curtain shielding her bed from the rest of the office. She surveyed the room, the back of it having one bathroom and the three beds. If anything, the keys would be somewhere near the nurse’s desk.

Olivia quickly walked over, and looked at the top. Lots of papers about the various students, a whole stack of pink slips, a fashion magazine… aha! Olivia pulled out the car keys from the magazine. She’d been using them as a bookmark. Olivia went back to her bed and pulled the curtains around it before running out of the nurse’s office and through the, thankfully, still empty office, entering the lobby.

She knew the vending machine was near the gym, so that meant the nurse would be coming from the hallway. Olivia checked to make sure she wasn’t coming, then dashed through the lobby. She suddenly heard footsteps coming, and ducked behind the platform the coyote statue stood on.

Olivia looked out form behind the coyote statue after a few seconds to see the custodian walking past. Close call. Olivia waited until his footsteps receded before running through the front doors of the school.

She carefully stepped past the collapsed students to reach the parking lot. She pressed the unlock button on the key, and the lights of a silver minivan flashed. Olivia hurried towards it, knowing she was on camera and that the people that worked in the office could get back at any second.

In fact, maybe it’d been too perfect they were all missing. They did somehow miss everything that went down in gym. So unless the cameras were all down… Olivia was worried for the office staff.

Olivia opened up the door of the nurse’s car, and climbed into the driver’s seat. The inside wasn’t neat, but it wasn’t overly messy. Magazines were piled up in the rear seat, she probably took a new one into the office every day.

Olivia threw her bag into the backseat, and jammed the keys into the ignition, turning them. The car sputtered to life, and Olivia grinned. She had this down!

She carefully switched the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space, narrowly missing hitting the cars to either side of her. The car hit the sidewalk outside the school and Olivia cursed, hurriedly turning the wheel.

She’d seen her mom do this thousands of times, she had this down. Once she had the car in a good position, she switched it into drive and drove out of school property. Perfect timing. School was going to be out in a matter of minutes, and all she had to do was reach the police station within 15 minutes to prevent her parents from worrying too much.

Olivia turned down several streets, and after awhile, she was lost in the sea of brown that was much of Bentley. The others colors were on the outskirts of town, such as Angelyn’s house. Olivia swore, starting to feel faint from her untreated injuries. Thanks a lot, nurse.

Before Olivia knew it, she found herself driving past the Welcome to Bentley sign. Unable to turn across a double yellow line, she drove for a good five minutes before finding a side road to turn off. She did so very quickly, so quickly that she lost control of the car.

Olivia screamed as the car flew down the road. She found herself heading towards the trees that lined the road, and quickly spun the wheel in the other direction. A little too far. The car soared straight into a ditch on the side of the road, dried for winter.

The airbags exploded outward as the car landed, and magazines rained down on Olivia’s head. Olivia saw black spots, and managed to pull the keys out of the ignition before blacking out.

Olivia had crashed the car in a spot shielded from the main road by trees, just as the trees hid the ditch from the view of the side road. No one would find her there until she managed to wake up and get moving.


	11. Surprise Reunion

It’d been three days since Angelyn, Paris, Marya, Elijah, and Nico had first arrived at the gates of Camp Halfblood, and all was well for the time being. Nico had left camp with Clarisse for an expedition to somewhere in France, saying there was a castle there that was registering some strange readings.

Paris woke up first that morning, eyes opening to the bottom of a bed that was way too close to his face. The room they were staying in had two bunkbeds against opposing walls and a wardrobe opposite the door, mostly blocking the window, which left the whole room fairly empty of sunlight. It wasn’t like Camp Halfblood commonly took guests.

Paris threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. Why was it he never woke up refreshed like in the movies? He blearily looked at the beds, and saw that Elijah and Marya were still asleep, and that Angelyn probably had her head under her pillow or something. Jeez. He really hoped he wasn’t that bad of a snorer!

Paris pushed carefully opened the door, then gently closed it behind him. The hallway was filled with the warm glow of a rising sun from the window at the end of the hall. His mom always used to tell him that the Rowe family rose with the sun, and it was a saying he followed to this day.

He walked down the hallway, turning left when he reached the end of the hallway their bedroom was at. The dining room and pantry was in this direction, something they’d all been quick to memorize.

He walked into the kitchen, a room with a wooden floor like the rest of the Big House. The white walls were painted with a mural depicting the gods gathered around a blazing fire in their throne room on Mount Olympus. There was a rather large square table in the center of the room, made out of a darker wood, and a door just after the mural that led into the kitchen and pantry.

Paris found Angelyn already sitting down at the table, having a conversation with Chiron, the centaur teacher. He’d told them tales of how he’d trained many great heroes in his lifetime, and enjoyed telling them all little details about the heroes he’d trained. One of Paris’s personal favorites was how incredibly whiny Chiron made Achilles out to be.

“I thought you were still asleep,” Paris chuckled upon entering the room.

Angelyn shook her head. “I didn’t even bother to try to make my bed look neat. Needed this bad.” She gestured at her coffee.

Paris nodded. He’d never much cared for coffee, but boy did a substance that could wake him up sound amazing.

“Anyway, Paris, Angelyn and I were discussing Theseus, a rather robust student of mine,” Chiron said. “Do take a seat.”

Paris did so, sitting next to Angelyn.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Chiron asked.

“A cup of orange juice would be great,” Paris said.

Chiron nodded. “Excuse me for a moment.”

He trotted away from the table, opening the swinging door to the kitchen.

Angelyn sighed and turned to Paris. “It’s been, what, two days since Marya dropped that depression bomb, and I still can’t get over that she told Henry, but not us.”

Paris nodded. “It’s the same story here. It’ s not like we can really talk about it either, Marya’s always right there.”

“And even if Elijah says he’s cool with it, I can tell he and Marya have grown a little distant…”

Paris shook his head. “I’d just give it time. We’ll get over it as soon as the next impossible thing happens.”

“And those have been happening a lot lately.”

“Too true,” Paris agreed.

Chiron walked out of the kitchen with Paris’s orange juice just as Elijah emerged from the hallway, blinking in the now brighter morning light.

“I’ll tell the kitchen to make pancakes,” Chiron said. “Also, Elijah, anything for you?”

“Tea, thanks,” Elijah muttered.

Chiron nodded and returned to the kitchen.

“I get the feeling that we’re either going to leave this place pretty soon, or we’ll start serving ourselves,” Paris said.

“Can’t blame Chiron or Camp Halfblood, there comes a point when a guest has to care for themselves,” Angelyn agreed.

Elijah nodded, too drowsy to comment.

The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes while they waited for Chiron to bring Elijah’s tea. When he placed it in front of Elijah, he said “I have another responsibility to take care of, I’ll be back in about a half hour.”

Chiron trotted out of the room and down the hallway. Angelyn and Paris waited for Elijah to take a few sips of his tea, understanding how hard the morning truly is.

“So. Marya. What do you think about her keeping secrets like that between her and Henry?” Paris asked.

Elijah shrugged. “I am a big believer of leaving the past in the past, but… it does bother me a little.”

“Really makes you wonder what other secrets those two have been keeping from us.” Angelyn grinned.

“I think we’ve exhausted Marya’s secrets,” Paris theorized. “We already know she’s pansexual and now this depression thing.”

“Henry and this mysterious twin… how does it get more extreme than that?” Elijah asked.

“Well, there is our theory from the other day, but I’ve gotta admit, Marya was right. That theory was a little too extreme,” Angelyn admitted.

“Giving Henry way too much credit,” Paris agreed.

“That question was stupid anyway, everything keeps on getting more and more extreme,” Elijah sighed. “These last few days have been a gift, finally time to take a break from it all.”

Angelyn and Paris nodded and went back to sipping their drinks.

Marya joined them in the dining room before the pancakes were ready, not seeming to care or notice that the other three were more wary of her then they had been the day before.

She opened up the door to the kitchen and hollered at the staff. “Apple juice, please!”

Marya sat down at the table, somehow full of life for just waking up. “What’s up?”

Elijah winced. “Jeez Marya, some of us can’t deal with mornings.”

Marya threw up her hands. “Okay, okay, I’ll back off. I just- this place is so full of life, ya know? It’s supposed to be fictional, and here we are! Live a little.”

Will, the guy who’d let them out of the attic and who Marya hypothesized had a thing with Nico, emerged from the kitchen, carrying Marya’s apple juice.

He pulled out a seat and sat down. “You just got me out of kitchen duty. They decided me walking out of that room with apple juice was a good time to bring in the next kid, so thanks for that.”

Marya winked. “Anything for apple juice.”

Will subtly moved a little further from Marya in his chair. Her wink truly was terrifying, especially to a guy like Will.

“Anyway,” Will said. “Didn’t really get much of a chance to apologize for locking you guys in that attic the other day.”

Angelyn waved him off. “It’s cool, Will. We get it, really.”

Will smiled.

“Was Nico really ready for another mission so soon?” Marya asked.

Will laughed. “No, not at all. If I had my way, he’d never shadow travel at all, but that’s never gonna happen.”

“Why not?” Paris said.

“Shadow travel is one of the most efficient ways for us to travel and gain intel. He can travel the distance a car would take hours to navigate in seconds, just at a cost to his physical health. Trust me, I have pages upon pages of negative health effects! But no ones going to listen to the doctor at a time like this.”

“You really are serious about being a doctor,” Elijah remarked.

“It’s in my blood, son of Apollo and all.” Will shrugged. “And being a doctor is never not interesting.”

Chiron trotted into the room then, a boy and a girl in tow.

All four of them recognized them right away. Percy and Annabeth.

“Percy, Annabeth, here we have Angelyn, Paris, Elijah, and Marya. And hello Will.”

Will waved from where he was leaning back in his chair.

“Hey,” Percy said as he and Annabeth took seats at the table.

“I’ll check on the pancakes,” Chiron said, opening the door to the kitchen.

“Tell me your story,” Percy frowned, staring them down. “I heard a little from Nico just before he left, but he wasn’t very elaborate.”

Annabeth nodded. “Escaping Shadowvein… that’s quite a feat. Kudos to you four for that.”

Will nodded. “Nico told me as much as he could but I’d love to hear it from you guys.”

“I’m in the robotics club in my school, so I had a screwdriver and could just unscrew the bolts keeping the doorknob on,” Paris explained.

“And Bellatrix forgot to put the immobilization charm on us because our- late friend, Matthias, knocked her into a wall before she got her henchman to deal with him.” Marya went on.

Annabeth looked shocked. “Seriously? That’s it?”

Angelyn nodded.

“Percy, we need to plan another team, this time let’s use Hephaestus’s house, and… Nico if he’s back in time and not two weakened from traveling back from France,” Annabeth planned out.  
Will shook his head at the mention of Nico’s name but didn’t say anything.

“Children of Athena being master strategists really is no joke,” Marya grinned.

Annabeth smiled slightly.

Chiron walked through the kitchen door, carrying Marya’s apple juice, a demigod boy behind him carrying a massive plate of golden brown pancakes, smaller plates, utensils, and syrup.

“Oh boy, I’ve been looking forward to this!” Marya remarked.

The demigod boy hurriedly placed the huge plate on the table before he dropped it, then hurried back into the kitchen. Chiron handed Marya her apple juice then sat down in-between her and Will.

Will passed out the plates, each one artfully painted with an image of one of the many Greek gods. Everyone reached for the utensils and pancakes then passed the warmed syrup around, each of them pouring just enough to make the pancakes look like art.

“Wow!” Percy remarked. “These pancakes are great!”

“They’d be even better if they were blue, huh seaweed brain?” Annabeth said, nudging him.

Just then, the sound of a horn rattled the table, causing Elijah’s fork to fall to the floor.

Percy, Annabeth, and Will sat up, tense.

“This has been great, but we’ve gotta go,” Percy said.

“That’s the warning horn, we’ve got intruders. Again,” Annabeth sighed.

The two then left the room quickly.

Will got up from his chair right after that. “I’ve gotta see if any of these guys need healing.”

After he was gone, the five of them sat in a weird silence for a few moments.

“First Nico, and now this… This is all highly unusual,” Chiron muttered to himself.

“You guys never get a break, do you?” Angelyn guessed.

Chiron shook his head. “We usually average a visitor from Shadowvein every week or so. My guess is that now with Clarisse and Nico gone, halfway across the globe, the intrusions are going to increase.”

“How would they know?” Paris asked.

“We’ve already thrown out several spies, and things have gotten… messy.” Chiron explained.

The group lapsed into silence again as the four of them continued to eat their pancakes, Chiron obviously in deep thought.

After a good chunk of time passed, then Will returned to the room.

“What’s happened?” Chiron asked immediately.

“It’s just two kids, one of them with a British accent. They say they want to talk to as many people from this camp as they can.” Will said. “I don’t get it- or trust them.”

Chiron nodded gravely. “In times like this, that’s for the best.”

“No one was injured, so I decided it was probably better I didn’t stay out there,” Will explained.

“That was smart of you, Will. We have to keep our talented healers safe.”

Just then, Percy ran in, out of breath. “We tried to detain them- but it didn’t work, they broke out! Chiron, you shouldn’t have sent Clarisse halfway across the world!”

Will turned to Percy. “They broke out? How many were injured?”

Percy shook his head. “None- none at all!”

“Something’s odd here,” Chiron commented.

Elijah watched the going ons with an incredulous look from behind his cup of tea, while Paris and Angelyn exchanged looks. Marya, on the other hand, was too invested in her cup of apple juice.

Annabeth then entered the room, followed by a huge swarm of demigods.

“We lost them!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe this- what’s wrong with our defenses? This whole crowd was defending that entrance, and somehow lost track of this pair!”

Chiron shook his head. “Will said these two were children. Children! How do you loose track of a pair of children?”

The crowd of demigods hung their heads.

“I think you’ll find that children are full of surprises,” a male voice said from within the crowd.

Two people stepped forward, two people Angelyn, Paris, Marya, and Elijah recognized instantly. Marya’s hand loosened on the cup of apple juice and it fell to the floor and shattered as she stared on in shock.

Henry looked equally shocked, seemingly unable to pick up where his speech has been going. The girl next to him, the girl Paris was guessing was this twin they’d heard so much about, coughed and nudged Henry.

Paris studied the two of them, his doubts from earlier echoing in his head. Henry had set fire to the gym, even if Marya claimed he’d saved her from his depression they were just hearing about now. Henry did still look like Henry, same usual outfit choice of jeans and a white t-shirt advertising New York City. His twin looked similar to him, and was wearing a white dress.

“Holy fuck. You’re Hermione Granger,” Marya said, looking completely bewildered. “Like THE Hermione Granger. Does this mean that you and Henry- no, this can’t be happening.”

Paris, Angelyn, and Elijah, not being that into Harry Potter but recognizing the name, looked at Hermione in shock.

Hermione turned to Henry, a confused look on her face. “Henry, are these some of the friends you were so worried about?”

Henry nodded, seemingly too shocked for words.

Marya got up from her chair, and ignoring the fact that she was walking through apple juice, she walked to Henry and hugged him.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she gushed. Then she quickly stepped back. “But Henry- come on. Why did you set fire to the gym? I mean, what drove to an act of such lunacy?”

Angelyn nodded from her chair, speaking carefully. “That- that really wasn’t cool. At all. Some of us really need to know what caused that.”

“Y-you s-see-“ Henry stammered.

Hermione stepped in front of him. “I’ll take over. Anyway, hey everyone! I’m Hermione, and this is my twin, Henry.”

Elijah leaned over to speak to Angelyn. “I don’t trust her, not after how Bellatrix mentioned a twin like there was dirt in her mouth.”

Angelyn nodded, the only thing on her mind the theories she and Paris had come up with the other day.

Hermione went on, explains that villains from multiple stories were uniting to try to destroy the world. “So. Henry and I have one question for all of you- can we count on you for help?” she finished.

Everyone was left speechless for a few moments.

“Well. That explains Shadowvein,” Chiron said. “You can count on me.”

Hermione looked like she wanted to ask what Shadowvein was, but Annabeth spoke up. “Anything to stop these guys.”

Percy and Will also vouched their support, as did everyone else in the room.

Henry and Hermione smiled at each other, clearly overjoyed. Everyone then slowly moved out of the room, leaving Henry and Hermione with everyone else who’d been enjoying now cold pancakes not that long ago.

Paris shook his head. “I thought seeing people like Maleficent in person would be the most insane thing I’d experience in my life, but all this just completely topped that.”

“You ran into Maleficent?” Hermione asked. “How’d you get out of that?”

Angelyn sighed. “Now that is a very long story.”

Henry interrupted them. “I thought he was in the bathroom or something, but it’s been too long for that. Where’s Matthias?”

Paris, Angelyn, Marya, and Elijah all exchanged looks. This was going to be rough.


	12. The Prophecy

Annabeth, Percy, Will, and Chiron sensed what was coming, and left the room, deciding to give them their space.

Paris looked at Henry, tears in his eyes. He owed it to Matthias to tell his friends, his family, everyone he knew and cared about that Matthias had died a hero.

“The villains, th-they k-killed him,” Paris stammered.

Henry seemed to crumple inwardly, and Hermione helped him over to a chair at the table.

“Who… who did it?” Henry asked.

“He was wearing a hooded robe, so we have no idea. But Bellatrix was there,” Marya said, joining them at the table.

Henry put his head down to hide his tears. “The two of us- we were friends, as far back as kindergarten. My only friend left from then. He- he deserved so much better than this.” He looked up at everyone. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t tried to protect you all from the fire, hadn’t separated you from everyone else, he’d probably still be alright.”

Elijah shook his head. “We would still have made the same choices, Henry. Don’t blame yourself, please. You don’t even know the whole story.”

“And what’s that?” Henry sobbed. “I have the full story of our friendship, and somehow, it ended with him dying because of my stupid decisions!”

Eight Years Ago

Henry sat alone on a swing, all the other kids around him running around in the sand, screaming as they played tag or jump roped. Some groups had even drawn hopscotch and foursquare in the sand, and Henry watched as one kid was hit in the face by the foursquare ball.

“Hemmy, I’m never going to fit in. No one is going to want to talk to the kid who still has an imaginary friend!” Henry thought.

“This can be our secret, Henry!” Hermione responded. “You tell no one, and I’ll tell no one.”

“Can’t have imaginary people disliking you, huh?” 

“Exactly.”

Their conversation trailed off, and Henry started to swing. He saw a car pull up to the school, and a mother and her son climb out, hurrying inside. The teacher had said there would be a new kid today. This was his chance!

10 minutes later, the boy walked out into the playground, looking bewildered. Henry waved from the swing, and the new boy walked over, and sat beside him.

“Hey,” the boy said.

“I’m Henry!” Henry said. “And I think we could both really use a friend.”

The boy thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that sounds cool. I’m Matthias.”

“Nice to meet ya!” 

Matthias smiled slightly, then the two began to swing back and forth as Henry told Matthias all about the school.

2013 

Henry laughed to himself “It’s only fitting that my first friend is the first I loose.”

Angelyn stood up, and walked over to Henry. “No. That isn’t fitting. This whole situation is screwed up and completely unbelievable but you have got to stop blaming yourself!”

“She’s right, Henry,” Hermione said.

“Okay, sure, maybe she’s right and it’s your fault for deciding to use fire for the diversion which made me feel like I had to save my friends then go after Olivia and probably miss what happened to these five. Who even knows what’s happened to her and Greg by this point?”

“We haven’t really had a chance to contact the school and check up on them, Henry,” Marya snarled.

“Marya, shut up. This isn’t the time to be snarky. Now. Henry. I’m going to try my best to explain this all to you, okay? You have to understand, this isn’t your fault in the slightest,” Angelyn spoke up, cutting Marya off.

Henry looked Angelyn in the eyes, and in those eyes, Angelyn saw only one thing. Grief. He was lashing out at them because he could’t deal with loosing his first friend.

“We got out of the school fine, Henry, alright? We’re the ones who let the staff know the school was on fire. My mom gave us a ride, and long story short, we were worried about you and stole my mom’s car because we needed to see what was wrong with you.”

“You didn’t try to go to my house, did you?” Henry asked.

Angelyn nodded. “We did, and saw nothing was there. That was when Maleficent and Galbarorix captured us and had us sent to the Shadowvein everyone here keeps talking about. Bellatrix and this- hooded figure talked to us about you guys, then asked us which one to kill.”

Henry grimaced.

“Matthias- he volunteered. Walked up bravely. Then he tried to knock out Bellatrix, make a run for it, for all of us. The hooded figure got to him before he could get outside the door, and that was the last- the last we saw of him.”

Angelyn wiped away a tear. “See? Not your fault. We ended up escaping thanks to Matthias injuring Bellatrix, and found Nico, who brought us here, which resulted in us running into you two.”

Marya, in a rare moment of sincerity, spoke up. “Henry, I believe everything happens for a reason. This- his- Matthias’s sacrifice is what brought us together again, and probably kept the rest us from being killed along with him,” She then shook her head. “But now that we’re together again, it’s time to kick some serious villain ass.”

Henry nodded and smiled a little. “Alright, Marya. That’s as good a plan as any.”

Marya got up, and hugged Henry, followed by Angelyn, Paris, and Elijah.

“Let’s do this. For Matthias,” Paris said.

Hermione shook her head and laughed. “You guys are just… friendship goals right now.”

Everyone backed away from each other, and Henry wiped away a tear. “Percy, Annabeth, Will, Chiron, you can all come back in now, we’re done,” he called out.

The four of them walked back into the room from around the corner in the hallway where they’d totally not been listening. Everyone took their seats at the table again, except Will, who stacked all the dirty dishes, utensils, glasses and leftover pancakes on top of the massive platter they’d been carried out on, who then carried it to the kitchen.

Hermione took a deep breath. “I’m sorry guys, but I have to kill the good mood. You all deserve to know this.”

The four friends looked at her, concerned. If she called the mood after talking about Matthias good, this had to be bad. Henry merely closed his eyes, as if that would block out the words.

“I, I tried scrying your school, uh, Northridge, from Hogwarts to make Henry feel better cause he was feeling pretty down about all of you guys being missing. And we saw your classmates… collapsed on the pavement outside.

Hermione looked around at everyone, ready for the volley of grief filled insults like the ones Henry had launched a few minutes ago. But there weren’t any.

Percy and Annabeth had no connection to the school, but there was an expression of horror on their face because these villains from Shadowvein had decided to attack a school. Hermione would have bet that Will would have wanted to get over there to try to heal everyone, and Chiron looked let down by the fact that anyone would do that these days.

Shockingly enough, Angelyn, Paris, Marya, and Elijah didn’t seem surprised or horrified. There was just some sort of grim sadness in their eyes.

Angelyn verified it with her next words. “Honestly… I’m not surprised. These villains, they’re awful, horrible people. They murdered Matthias just because they ‘didn’t need all of us’. I just… I really hope Greg and Olivia are alright.”

Elijah nodded. “That’s one thing I couldn’t deal with- loosing anymore of you.”

The conversation was cut off by a girl with red hair wandering into the room at around the same time Will returned. “I heard there were some delicious pancakes here, and boy, you guys all know I can’t resist those deliciously fluffy pieces of dough…”

She stopped, noticing everyone in the room. “What’s going on?”

“Rachel- you’ve already heard of these four, but seeing that this is your first time meeting them, here we have Marya, Elijah, Angelyn, and Paris,” Percy said, gesturing at each of them in turn. “And here we have Henry and Hermione, they just invited us to take part in a war against those Shadowvein villains.”

Rachel opened her mouth, surprised. “Oh boy, a war, huh? That’s news!” She then focused on the new people in the room, frequently talking with her hands. “So sorry for just meeting you guys now, but hey, as the Oracle, I only really leave my totally awesome cave once or twice a week.” 

She then held out her hand to Henry, which he shook. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare, at your service.”

“Nice to meet you, Rachel,” he responded with a smile.

“Now, where are those pancakes?” Rachel said, turning around to survey the room. “I don’t leave my cave for nothing.”

“I actually just threw them out, Rachel,” Will laughed. “You have the worst timing.”

“Jeez,” Rachel sighed. “What do I need to do to get some pancakes around here?”

Just then, Rachel eye’s flashed green for a second, and she stumbled backwards.

“A new prophecy? This can’t be good,” Annabeth muttered.

“Or it’ll give us guidance in this upcoming war,” Chiron added.

Rachel’s eyes rolled back, and she rose so she was standing completely erect. Green smoke began to billow out of her mouth as she spoke in an odd voice that seemed to echo infinitely on.

“EVIL STANDS UNITED, AS GOOD MUST TOO. FIVE BECOMES FOUR AND FOUR BECOMES THREE. LIVES ARE TAKEN WITH EACH TICK OF THE CLOCK. A FIERCE BATTLE WILL BE WAGED BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARK AND ONLY WITH THE DEATH OF A HERO WILL ONE PREVAIL. “

Rachel crumbled to the floor, and the green smoke disappeared.

Will stood up. “I’ve got this guys, I’m the healer here.”

He walked over to Rachel, and carefully picked her up. “I’ll make sure she gets some pancakes too,” Will added as he carried her out of the room.

“Was that seriously a prophecy we just heard?” Marya asked.

Annabeth nodded. “An alarming one, too.”

“What could it mean by death of a hero?” Henry asked.

Percy shook his head. “That could be any number of people, hero really doesn’t point out anyone specific… I’d guess someone crucial in this war is going to die.”

“Especially seeing that we’re traveling around visiting heroes from every story, Henry, hero could be anyone.” Hermione said.

“How about the five becomes four and four becomes three?” Elijah asked. “Do you think that could reference us?”

Paris looked at him, shocked. “I think Elijah… that it could. We were five, then we lost Matthias. Five had already become four.”

Angelyn frowned. “I seriously hope not, I do not want to loose another one of you.”

“Well, let’s think about this for a moment,” Chiron said. “There’s countless groups of five out there, and after Henry and Hermione visit these heroes, as they said, it’s more than likely we’ll have many groups of five already gathered in this war.”

Hermione turned to Annabeth. “Do prophecies usually talk about things that happen before they’re given? Because Matthias was gone long before this.”

Annabeth thought for a moment. “Not that I think, but I can’t be completely sure.”

“See guys? Camp Halfblood would have heard of this prophecy before you lost Matthias. Henry and I won’t let anything happen to the rest of you,” Hermione assured them.

“I’m with the theory that these are people we meet in the future, and we have three deaths coming up. Five, four, and the hero,” Henry said. “Deaths that I really hope are people we don’t know that well.”

“Jesus,” Paris sighed, shaking his head. “How much more tragedy can we stand?”

“How about that with every tick of the clock line?” Angelyn asked. “That sounds pretty bad.”

While everyone else was talking, Hermione spoke to Henry mentally. “Henry, we really need to hurry up with visiting everyone. It’s been great here and all, but Dumbledore was right about this being urgent and our time being limited. And now? With this prophecy? It’s even more crucial!”

“Definitely,” Henry agreed. “But… how are we going to tell everyone that we’re already leaving? And especially my friends… we’re so far from Bentley now.”

“And maybe that’s for the best! Especially after that last attack. I’m sure we can trust the people here to look after them, if they’re able.”

“I would say we should bring them with us…”

“…But that would only put them in danger.” Hermione finished his thought.

“Well, at least that one line about evil and good standing united is obvious,” Paris was saying.

Henry cut into their conversation. “Guys… this really sucks, but after this prophecy, Hermione and I have got to go and find these heroes for the war.”

“Of course,” Annabeth agreed.

“I just need to ask for a huge favor from you guys,” Henry went on. “We can’t take my friends with us… Would you be fine with taking care of them for a little while?”

Percy turned to Chiron, wanting to say yes, but needing his permission.

Chiron nodded. “That will be fine. When will you be coming to pick them up?”

“We’re arranging a train trip for you guys in about a week, so all the heroes can gather in one place for the war,” Hermione said. “So really, only a week.”

“That’ll be perfect,” Chiron said.

Marya looked at Henry, offended. “And why can’t you bring us with you?”

“We just want you four to be safe,” Henry smiled. “I couldn’t bear to loose another one of you.”

“Or is it that we’re unneeded luggage?” Paris asked jokingly. “No really, it’s fine, I get it. We’re just going to miss you Henry. And so soon after meeting up again too!”

“And Bentley just isn’t safe anymore, right?” Elijah asked.

“Exactly.”

Angelyn looked up at Henry, a slight grin on her face. “Okay. Go then. Go out and save the world, do whatever you need to do. We’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you, Angelyn,” Henry smiled back.

“We’ll be just fine with Angelyn leading us,” Paris laughed. “She’s the reason we got to and then out of Shadowvein, I trust her planning skills.”

“You sure Athena isn’t your mom?” Marya joked. “Cause damn, I wouldn’t mind getting with someone who has some god blood in them.”

Angelyn shook her head furiously. “You guys are the worst! Seriously!”

Henry laughed. He and Hermione then pushed in their chairs, and moved to the entryway.

“So, we’ll see you in a weeks time, then?” Elijah asked.

Henry shook his head. “We’ll be busy traveling, but I promise you, you are all going to love where we’re sending you.”

“Come on, tell us!” Marya exclaimed.

Henry grinned slyly. “Sssshhhh, spoilers.”

Marya rolled her eyes, but turned to Elijah to chat.

“You ready to go?” Hermione asked.

“One moment,” Henry said.

He took a moment to look at his four friends. Matthias had obviously left a huge hole in their group, but despite that, they all sat there, talking and laughing with each other and the members of Camp Halfblood, almost as if nothing had gone wrong recently, and this was a totally normal thing to do.

As Henry stared at them, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen, and a sight like that would be a whole lot rarer.


	13. Officer

Olivia opened her eyes to the sight of the dirt walls of the ditch through the cracked windshield of the nurse’s car, held in her seat by the seatbelt. She unclicked the seatbelt and fell forward into the windshield, disturbing a few of the magazines that had been flung wildly across the car when she crashed.

Olivia grunted and turned to the door. She threw a magazine advertising anti aging cream and another offering tips for better home decor out of the way, then reached for the handle. Nothing. Olivia rolled her eyes, then turned around and kicked the door. Nothing. She kicked again, this time with all her might. The door just barely scrapped open, and Olivia clambered out of the car. She stood up, dusting off her hands as she looked at the wreckage.

The silver car sat diagonally, the door she’d just climbed out of half open. Magazines were scattered across the windows, and the front of the car looked to be dented. Olivia backed away, then climbed out of the ditch to return to the road. She was so not dealing with the aftermath of that accident.

She stumbled her way up the road until she reached the main road that led into Bentley. She looked down the road and saw the beige adobe wall that had been started on either side of the road in around five years ago, but never finished, and the steeple on top of the church she knew was around a block away from the entrance. She knew were she was headed now.

Olivia carefully picked her down the side of the road, none of the cars passing paying her any mind. After around five minutes, she entered town and walked past the shoe shop that sat right next to the entrance, having somehow managed to stay in business despite no one ever going in. She walked past an ice cream parlor she and Angelyn had gone to several times, and then before she knew it, she was at the church.

It was an imposing structure, the steel tipped steeple reaching high above all the surrounding buildings. The tall, stained glass windows, set in unforgiving white washed walls, seemed to glare down on the plaza in front of the building, which contained a planter full of wilted flowers. But Olivia had only come here from one reason. In front of the planer, there was a map of the small, classic southwestern shopping district of Bentley for the nonexistent tourists, and she knew the police station would be on that map.

She walked up, and looked up at the top of the sign, where everyday someone wrote in the date in chalk for some useless function. Saturday. Olivia shook her head, amazed. She’d been passed out for a full day. Her parents had to be worried. Wanting to get to the police station, she quickly plotted her route, then set off on her way.

Along the way, she ducked into a shop that specialized in used books, and asked to use the bathroom. The shop owner wasn’t surprised, and handed her a key. She rinsed her face in the sink, and attempted to brush her hair with her hands, cursing herself for leaving her backpack back in the wreckage of the nurse’s car.

Handing the key back on the way out, she walked the rest of the way to the police station, just then realizing how scratched up she was from first throwing herself into a bush, then crashing a car. She stopped outside the police station, yet another adobe building that shared walls with the two shops next door.

She took a deep breath. “Come on Olivia, pull yourself together.”

Olivia knew that by now, someone would have had to have run across what occurred at Northridge, so her story would be believable. Would probably help that after that, people would assume she was dead. Gotta trust the survivor.

Olivia pushed open the glass door, and walked into a small lobby, white chairs lining a wall next to a rack of outdated magazines. A bulletin board hung on the opposite wall, flyers for missing pets decorating it, and at the far end of the room, there was a glassed in desk that an officer sat behind, too engrossed in whatever he was doing on the computer to notice Olivia entering the room

That is, until she collapsed and became very well aquatinted with the blue carpet.

Olivia chuckled to herself, realizing what awful shape she was in, something the officer heard.

Not looking up from his computer, he spoke like he was in desperate need of a coffee. “What do you need?”

Looking up, the older officer noticed the girl sprawled on the ground. “Oh my god!”

Olivia heard the door behind his desk open, then the door for the general public next to his desk open a second later. Footsteps thudded on the carpeted floor, and then he stretched out his hand.

Olivia grabbed it, and the officer helped her to his feet. He led her over to a chair, and leaned over so Olivia was staring right into his blue eyes.

“Are you alright? Do you need medical help?” When he received no response, he said “I’ll call in the medics.”

“Oh no… I’m fine. Totally fine,” Olivia muttered.

The officer looked doubtful. “Okay, honey. What’s your name? At least let me call your parents.”

“…Olivia.”

“Can I have a last name?”

“Terry.”

The officer nodded his thanks. “I’ll look you up. All of us officers have been told to be protective of the childr- Uh, forget I said anything.”

Olivia grunted in response

The officer flashed her a reassuring smile. “You can call me Officer Trudey. We’ll make sure you’re home before you know it.”

Officer Trudey walked back through the door, and soon enough, he was back at his desk. He typed for a minute at his computer, then froze. “Jesus…” he muttered. “She goes to Northridge.” He picked up the phone next to his computer, and dialed the number on the screen.

“Mr. Terry? Yes, this is the police. I’m calling because your daughter, uh, Olivia, just walked in. Oh, you’re already on your way? Okay, that great. See you in a few.”

Olivia spoke up. “Officer Trudey?”

“What do you need, sweetie?”

“Can I speak to like the… chief or something? I really, really need to do that. I survived that school massacre.”

Officer Trudey’s mouth dropped open. “Olivia, darling, we’ll talk to you about that as soon as your parents get here, for sure. And- it wasn’t a massacre. Everyone- well, everyone except you and some other kid- are stuck in a coma. Nothing wakes them. The hospital here in Bentley was overflowing, and we had to send most of them over to Santa Fe.”

Olivia reached for the necklace that hung around her neck, and pulled it out from under her shirt. She looked at the dreamcatcher. Ari was still alive, she knew that girl had the willpower to wake herself up from a coma. There was still hope in the world.

Her parents then pushed through the door, her dark haired dad’s shirt not fully buttoned, and her mom was still wearing a pink bathrobe, her blonde hair in a tangled bun.

“Olivia! Oh my baby, you’ve had us so worried!” Olivia’s mom shrieked, hurrying over to hug Olivia.

Olivia’s dad walked over to the desk. “Do we need to show verification? Just, what do we need to do to get our baby girl home?”

“Your daughter has some info on that Northridge tragedy from yesterday, so after that, we’ll release her into your custody. I just need your names and IDs,” Officer Trudey said.

“John,” Oivia’s dad said, pulling out his wallet.

“I’m Teri.” Olivia’s mom said. “Yes, I get that it’s Teri Terry, and sir, I don’t have my ID on me at the moment…”

“Just your husband’s will do,” Officer Trudey smiled.

After checking everything, Officer Trudey looked to Olivia. “We’ll conduct that interview you wanted now, just follow me.”

“What about us?” Teri asked.

“You’re free to watch,” Officer Trudey said.

Teri helped Olivia off the chair, and helped her across the room, and through the door. Behind it, wooden cubicles sat empty, and door after door was closed. Other than one officer and two women dressed as nurses talking by the coffee machine, the whole station seemed severely understaffed.

We walked the hallway at the end of the room, then turned left into a side hallway that had two doors.

“John, Teri, feel free to head into that room on the right,” Officer Trudey said.

They did as he commanded, and he took Olivia’s hand, and led her into the left room. Olivia’s immediate thought was that she was being treated like a criminal. The room had cold cement walls and cold cement floor, and mirrors that were obviously one way windows stretched across three of the walls. Olivia sat down in an oh-so-classic steel chair, while Officer Trudey sat down across from her at a steel table.

“You should really turn up the heat,” Olivia laughed nervously.

Officer Trudey shrugged. “Just starting to get cool again, so we’ll probably have it back on in another week or two.”

Olivia frowned, then gestured at her surroundings. “What is this, exactly? This is supposed to be an interview, not an interrogation. ‘

Officer Trudey shot her a look. “This matter is of the highest importance, Olivia. You have to understand that. Someone like yourself, mostly uninjured, that’s suspicious. And also, let me let you in on a little secret- Bentley can’t actually afford more than this room, before four years ago we didn’t even have a room for interrogation.”

“That whole area outside of this room is basically empty! Like, this is so totally not an experience I’d give five stars on yelp. I’m trying to help you guys, and I’m being treated like a criminal!”

Officer Trudey interlaced his fingers, and placed his hands on the table. “Listen, darling. Let’s all be civilized here. Just tell us what you know, and you’re basically free to go.”

Olivia took a deep breath, pushing her feelings of indignation down. “So we were in gym class when this lady came in, and basically she was looking for Henry. So she put the coach to sleep by whispering to him.”

Officer Trudey held up a hand. “I’m sorry, but she put him to sleep by whispering to him? How is that even possible?”

Olivia shrugged. “She brought us all outside, and we ran into Bellatrix Lestrange and this crazy man in a wheelchair, and she, this man and this lady from before questioned us, I think they called this lady the Countess-“

“Do you think this is a joke?” Officer Trudey said, cutting her off.

“No, not at all! Please believe me, I’m telling this just like it happened! Like, next Maleficent showed up and summoned this green lightning-“

“Stop!” Officer Trudey shouted. “I don’t know what kind of joke you’re trying to pull right now, Ms. Terry, but this is a very serious matter, and your behavior is not okay! First disappearing on your parents for a full 24 hours, then telling the law enforcement blatant lies-“

“It’s all true, please, you’ve got to stop these guys!” Olivia shouted. “I saw one of my best friends struck by this green lightning right in front of me, this cannot happen again!”

“Listen here, missy. I’ll let you off with a warning, and I expect you to never pull something like this again. Mr. and Mrs. Terry, you can come in now.”

A few moments later, Teri and John walked in and shook their heads at Olivia.

“Olivia… this isn’t okay. The whole PTA is worried, a quarter of us have missing children! You need to stop this nonsense, okay?” Teri reprimanded sadly.

“Sweetie, we raised you better than this. This whole event is a national emergency, you can’t go around spreading lies like that,” John said, shaking his head.

“Mon, dad, please! I’m telling the truth. One of you has to believe me, please!”

Teri turned to Officer Trudey, desperation in her eyes. “Officer, please, is there anywhere we can send Olivia so she figures out this isn’t okay?”

John quickly jumped on board. “We need these foolish ideas out of out daughters head. We love her too much to let her tarnish herself by spreading this kind of lies.”

Olivia looked at her parents, tears in her eyes. “Every word… of my story… was true…”

Teri walked over to the chair Olivia was sitting in, and knelt down on the floor so she could look up into Olivia’s eyes. “I know that you think that, Olivia. But- listen to yourself! Maleficent isn’t real, this isn’t a disney movie!”

John rubbed a tear away. “Just tell us, tell this kind Officer, that what you said was all a joke. Admit the truth. Please. We want our happy little girl back.”

Teri looked up at Olivia, hands clasped. “Come back to us, baby girl.”

Olivia opened her mouth, wanting so badly to say that everything she’d said had been a joke and be let off with a light warning from Officer Trudey. But she kept on seeing Ari in her mind, illuminated in the green light from Maleficent’s thunder. And she knew she wouldn’t be able to live out the rest of her life if she took back everything she’d said. So she said “I’m sorry, Mom, Dad, but I stand by what I said.”

Teri rose to her feet, and started openly sobbing. John walked over and hugged her, bathrobe and all.

Officer Trudey stood up, and gently ushered Teri and John out of the room.

He then turned back to Olivia, who was still seated in her chair, tears drying on her face. Olivia felt betrayed. And she was pissed.

While Officer Trudey pressed a button next to the door and called for sedation, Olivia stood up, and picked up her steel chair. The nurses that Olivia had seen by the coffee maker earlier entered the room, clutching needles. Olivia backed into the corner, clutching her chair as some sort of shield as Officer Trudey and the nurses walked towards her.

Panicking, she threw her chair at Officer Trudey, shouting “I am not delusional!”

It struck him right in the head, and he went down. Olivia gave a quick gasp of surprise, then moved along the wall as the nurses stepped forward, business on their face. Thoughts raced through Olivia’s head as her mind tried to process everything that had occurred recently, leading to this ultimate low in her life.

Olivia turned to the nurses, and put her hands up, deciding to reason with them. “You know, this really isn’t right or fair.”

It did nothing. Olivia hurried to the door, stepping over Officer Trudey. She tried to turn the handle. Nothing.

“Mom! Dad!” Olivia shrieked, pounding on the door.

Next thing she knew, the nurses were behind her, and once one of the needles made contact, Olivia felt darkness encroaching the edges of her vision, so she leaned on the door. To her surprise, it opened, and she fell to the tiled floor outside the room. The last sight she saw were the pink slippers her mom always wore with her bathrobe before blacking out completely.


	14. Loredan

Henry and Hermione pushed open the door of the Big House and walked out onto the porch that overlooked the camp. They both took a moment to look out, over the cabins for each godly parents, looking towards the pine trees, still glistening with dew in the early morning light. It wasn’t like they’d had the time to take in Camp Halfblood entering.

Hermione reached down and grabbed a white bag that held all of their stuff thanks to a certain charm. She’d left it outside in the chase. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, Hermione turned to Henry and nodded, both of them communicating silently. The two walked of the porch and out of camp, the valley it was nestled in disappearing as soon as they stepped out of the gate and past the wards, into the pine trees that grew on the grassy hill that led up the gate.

“I would have disapparated in there, but with these ancient Greek wards, there’s no telling what would have happened to us,” Hermione explained.

Henry smiled. “Wouldn’t want to reappear somewhere missing body parts! That always sounded so painful back when I was reading the books.”

Hermione nodded. “You don’t even know the half of it. I technically shouldn’t even be using this spell, but Umbridge pulled some strings at the Ministry.”

“Really? Umbridge did that?”

“I know that you don’t like her Henry, but she’s been nothing but helpful so far. I trust you, duh, but jeez, it’s like she’s beyond redemption,” Hermione sighed.

Henry snorted. “This time, you don’t know the half of it.”

Hermione threw out her hands in exasperation. “Henry, for the last time. You really need to stop forgetting I can literally read your mind!”

“Still can’t get over that,” Henry said with a grin.

“Professor McGonagall said she tried to contact a doctor friend she used to travel with, saying he had some device that could travel through time, but apparently she couldn’t reach him,” Hermione said. “So Umbridge’s way was really our only option.”

“Okay, Hemmy, I get it,” Henry nodded. “Let’s go!”

Hermione shot Henry a look of fake rage. “Hemmy? Really, Henry?”

“Bet you really regret never coming up with one with me while we were younger,” Henry laughed as he reached for Hermione’s hand.

“You’re right. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” Hermione said, grabbing Henry’s hand.

“Yep,” Henry said as they apparated.

They appeared at a scene both of them recognized. Of course, they’d only ever seen it vividly described between the pages of a book before, but that was enough. Tall, spiky gates made of wrought iron blocked the property in front of them, flanked by spiky hedges. Through them, they could see a road stretching out into an expansive yard, a yard that was so green that the house wasn’t even visible behind all the trees.

Hermione dug into the bag and pulled out a book with a red cover. Inkheart. Henry watched as she opened up to a bookmarked page and read through the description of the house and yard.

She turned to Henry and nodded. “This is definitely it.”

“Awesome!” Henry grinned, giving her two thumbs up.

Hermione put the book bag in the back, then pulled out her wand. She pointed it at the imposing gates. “Alohomora,” she whispered.

The lock on the gate opened with a click. Henry walked forward, and pushed one side open.

“After you, milady,” Henry said, gesturing to the path.

Hermione shook her head as she put her wand back in her bag. “This has to be the reason we were separated at birth.”

Henry thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

He followed Hermione through the gate, then grabbed one of the metal bars and pulled it shut behind them.

The two started down the gravel path, which was bordered by tall trees, hedges, and numerous signs warning against trespassers.

“For such a model student, you definitely are a rule breaker, Hermione,” Henry said, gesturing towards the signs.

“Who said this wasn’t fun?” Hermione smiled. “And you already know I like breaking the rules cause of the fifth book-“

Henry sighed, cutting her off. “I wish I could have avoided literally spoiling your whole future for you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Henry. I once read something, Fablehaven, I think it was, and a character said something that’s stuck with me; when you interfere with time, you find your actions were already part of the past.”

“But this is a completely different thing!” Henry argued.

Hermione shook her head. “This was meant to happen, I’m sure of it.”

Henry couldn’t think of a response, and they both lasted into silence. They walked the rest of the way silently, just enjoying each other’s company as birds chirped in the trees around them, the greenery so think that it formed a tunnel, of sorts.

After a time, the gravel road opened up to a house and carefully tended rose bushes. The house was plastered in yellow and each of the many windows had green shutters on either side. Henry and Hermione walked towards the front door, which was made of dark wood. Henry grabbed the brass knocked, and hit it against the door.

They stood there for a minute before the door opened abruptly. An older woman stood there, her grey hair pinned up in a messy way. Her eyes were like pebbles, exactly as described in the book. She positioned herself in the doorway in such a way that they couldn’t see anything behind her.

“What do you want?” the woman asked.

“You’re Elinor Loredan, I presume?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, I am. What are you here for? I haven’t got all day.”

“I’m Hermione, and this is Henry. We have some super important news you need to hear about.”

Elinor rolled her eyes. “If this important news is the latest and greatest in hair dryers, I’m not interested. And- how’d you get into my yard? I closed and locked that gate.”

“That- that isn’t important. This news, it involves-“ Henry stammered.

“You broke into my property, that’s important! You young hooligans think you can do anything these days and avoid the consequences, well guess what? I’m calling the police.”

“It involves Basta and Capricorn!” Hermione shouted.

That stopped Elinor cold. She gave them both a look of utter horror, then opened the door further. “Come in. Quickly now.”

Elinor moved out of the way of the door, allowing Henry and Hermione to enter. She moved back to it, then quickly surveyed the yard before slamming it and moving the deadbolt.

Henry and Hermione looked around the house in awe. Just like described in Inkheart, every single wall was a bookshelf, each crammed with books. One could probably spend a lifetime here and still struggle to read every single book in the house.

“Listen, you two. I’m only letting you into my house because you know those two names, something not many do. What’s the important news?” Elinor said.

“Could we speak to everyone in the house?” Hermione asked.

“How do you know there are other people here?” Elinor demanded. “If you’re working for Capricorn’s people, I will have the police here in no time flat.”

Henry held out his hands. “No, no, not at all Ms. Loredan! You see, we read about you.”

Elinor looked at Henry and frowned. “Read about me? I’m not going to take anymore of this nonsense. I’m in nothing other than a few articles about book collectors, and even then, those writers know I’d file a lawsuit if they released my address.”

“Get job, Henry. Why would you even say that?” Hermione thought to Henry.

“You’re the one who asked to speak to everyone in the house,” Henry thought back.

“Which I totally could have played off!”

“Well?” Elinor demanded, glaring at the both of them. “What does the two of you being in my house have to do with Basta and Capricorn, and how on earth have you read about me?”

Hermione sighed, and dug into her bag. Elinor’s eyes widened in shock as her whole arm disappeared into a seemingly small bag while Hermione grabbed and pulled out Inkheart.

“Your story exists in this book,” Hermione explained. “This is probably a lot to take in, but you have to believe me, the whole world as at stake.”

Elinor snatched Inkheart from Hermione’s hands, and quickly flipped through the pages. “Heavens above,” she breathed. “This is exactly what happened just a matter of months ago.”

She handed the book back to Hermione. “I need to hear the two of you out. Follow me.”

Elinor started down the hall, and Henry and Hermione followed. After two turns into hallways filled with countless bookshelves, Elinor led them into the kitchen, which had to be one of the few rooms in the house without books covering the walls. There was a small wooden table in one corner, where a girl with blonde hair and a woman who looked like her mother sat, both eating sandwiches.

The woman spoke to the girl in sign language, which she translated for Elinor. “She’s asking what’s going on. And… she heard you shouting, and wasn’t sure if it was the door to door salesman again.” The girl gazed at Henry and Hermione curiously. “Who are they?”

“Oh, Resa, I’m trying to learn sign language, but it really is challenging to teach an old dog new tricks,” Elinor sighed. “Henry and… Hermione here claim that they have news about Basta and Capricorn.”

The woman, Resa, paled, and quickly signed something else to her daughter.

“She… and I want to know what either of them could do after what happened last spring. Capricorn is gone… and Basta is useless without someone to follow.” the girl said.

“It’s Meggie, right?” Hermione asked.

Meggie looked at Hermione in confusion, wondering how she could know her name, but nodded.

“We’re going to explain all of that, okay? We just need everyone in the house here.”

“Where’s Mo and Darius?” Elinor asked.

“Darius went shopping. Mo… he’s working on a book.” Meggie said.

Elinor nodded, then exited the kitchen.

Henry and Hermione joined Resa and Meggie at the table while they waited for Elinor to return with Mo. No one spoke, Meggie and Resa continuing to eat their sandwiches.

Elinor returned within a matter of minutes with a brown haired man who resembled Meggie, Mo. He was clearly her father.

“What’s all this about?” he asked as he and Elinor settled down at the table.

“Well,” Elinor said. “These two have a book that contains the events of last year.”

Hermione nodded, and pulled it out of her bag, placing it on the table. “All of us here, we’re all characters from books. Except Henry, but who knows? There might be some book about him out there somewhere.”

“Are you saying that all of us are… fictional characters?” Meggie asked.

Henry nodded. “In a way. Or not, seeing that we’re all real and living. Whatever the truth is, we’re all here, together, right? Heroes from the stories. Here’s the bad news- the villains are doing the same thing.”

Elinor put her head in her hands. “If I have to see Basta’s ugly mug again, I just know I’m going to snap and end up hurting something.”

Hermione frowned. “Not just Basta, but Capricorn to. These villains have found a way to travel through time, and they’re forming a force to take revenge on all of us. That’s why Henry and I are traveling around, spreading the news. We need help defeating them.”

All four of the Loredans exchanged looks.

“Listen…” Mo said. “None of us are fighters. We all read, Resa draws, Meggie sometimes writes, I bind books. We’ve all never touched a weapon in our lives.”

“I have a gun in my bedside drawer,” Elinor said quickly. “Just in case of a robbery.”

“Alright, fine, none of us have ever actually used a weapon. What would you expect us to do?” Mo asked.

“Mo, you and Meggie have the power to read stuff form works of fiction. If you could summon weapons or anything we could use… Meggie could write them back once it’s all over. We honestly just need all the help we can get,” Henry explained.

Mo looked down thoughtfully. “If you read, well, my story, you should know our power isn’t entirely reliable-“

“I’ll do it,” Meggie volunteered, cutting Mo off.

Resa signed something furiously, and Mo shot Meggie a look of death.

“I took down Capricorn before, I can do it again, mom, dad,” Meggie argued.

Mo sighed. “I guess… I’ll help as well.”

Resa signed a yes.

“Don’t think I’m missing a show like this. I doubt any of want an old woman who’s spent her life reading books on the frontline of an army anyway,” Elinor said. “But I’ll be there, for sure.”

Henry and Hermione smiled at each other gleefully. They’d done it. Another group of people joining their cause.

“We’ll get someone to send you tickets to a train you’ll take in about a week,” Hermione explained.

Elinor turned to her family. “A week? I think that gives us just enough time to comb through this house for the books with the nastiest weapons. I think I can recall one I bought at an auction in Nice five years ago all about medieval weapons.”

Meggie translated some signage from Resa. “She says that she can’t believe that your bookworm lifestyle is finally leading to something.”

Elinor swatted Resa with a sleeve of her loose fitting sweater.

Henry and Hermione stood up in unison, and pushed in their chairs.

“We’d better get going,” Henry said.

“You can’t stay for a sandwich or tea?” Elinor asked.

“No,” Hermione smiled. “We actually just came from New York, and literally had breakfast like two hours ago.”

“How’d you-“ Moe started to say, but Elinor gave him a look. “Ah, magic. That’s a thing even when I haven’t read it out of books now…”

“You will let us know if you spot Basta or Capricorn, right?” Meggie asked.

“Of course,” Henry nodded. “All we’re here to do is help and save the world and stuff, so we’ve gotta keep you all safe.”

“Now that is music to my ears,” Elinor sighed.

Henry and Hermione waved their goodbyes as they left the kitchen with Elinor. She showed them to the door, and opened it up for them.

“Don’t you think I’m not getting you for trespassing on my property in the future. I have signs for a reason!” she said. “Now take care, you two.”

They chuckled nervously as Elinor shut the wooden door.

Henry and Hermione stood there on her drive for a moment, listening to the birds chirp in the midday sunlight that filtered through the trees.

Hermione sighed. “It’s so peaceful here.”

“I’m thinking one more group before we find a hotel for the night?” Henry asked.

“That sounds good,” Hermione agreed. “This whole time zone thing is definitely disorienting. We’d better find our bearings, and fast.”

“Lighten up a bit, Hemmy,” Henry said. “That’s three in one day! Camp Halfblood is huge, and the readers from this family have limitless power! We’re on the right track, stop worrying so much.”

Hermione nodded. “You’re right, Henry. I’ve gotta stop worrying so much. Worrying is exactly why I signed up for every class this year and had to get a time turner- definitely something I need to work on.”

Henry smiled. “You’ve got this.”

“I certainly hope so.”


	15. The Tenth Day

Three days after Henry and Hermione left Elinor Loredan’s house, the bell rang again at Northridge for the first time since the coma incident, signaling the start of last period. Officials had deemed it safe enough for students to return to school, saying lightning didn’t strike twice, and after a freak fire then a widespread coma, there was no way anyone would dare target Northridge again.

 

They placed police officers from the next two towns over around Northridge, the one in Bentley being so widely understaffed that they couldn’t send a single officer to look over the school. With that kind of surveillance, even the top notch government protection groups said that no criminal would attack something under the public eye that was so well defended.

 

Blocks away, in the older part of town, Officer Trudey sat in a diner that had been there for as long as anyone could remember, known for it’s horrible coffee and the annoying glare that shone through the windows from the mirror shop across the street. Luckily, the whole town had been stuck in a rainstorm for the past few days, making the whole shop darker.

 

He sat across from Teri and John, Olivia’s parents, at a beaten up wooden table. The table was positioned under a crooked painting off a New Mexico sunset that hung on a yellow striped wall. Next to Officer Trudey sat Officer Castillo, a superior officer from California who’d been assigned to this case. A records keeper who’d introduced herself as Ms. Keating sat at the table next to them.

 

“I know, I know. For the hundredth time, Mr. and Mrs. Terry, I know that what you think your daughter said is a bunch of lies, but as an officer of the law, I still need to hear it,” Officer Castillo sighed, looking ready to tear her hair out of her head. She was an intimidating looking woman, with jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes.

 

“Look, Officer Castillo, I don’t want to recount this information if it’s going to jeopardize my daughter’s chances education wise in the future-“ John started to argue.

 

“I’ve already heard the facts from Officer Trudey,” Officer Castillo cut in. “I just want to know your recollection of it, seeing that you two are her parents. We’d question Olivia herself, but you made that pretty challenging by sending her off to an asylum that doesn’t allow visiting.”

 

Officer Trudey sipped at his coffee, the look that crossed his face afterwords showing that he regretted that decision. “Just do what Ms. Castillo wants,” he sighed. 

 

Ms. Keating, a woman with a spray tan and blonde hair, looked out over her laptop at the four of them. “This info isn’t going out to anyone but the top level of the police force. We just want the town of Bentley to be safe.”

 

Officer Castillo shot Ms. Keating a look that clearly communicated that she needed to pipe down. “Thank you, Ms. Keating.”

 

Ms. Keating’s words seemed to do the trick, however, and Teri shot an anxious look at her husband before starting to talk.

 

“She- she claimed she saw Maleficent, Bellatrix, and some french lady called Tatiana. And that this Maleficent struck all of them with green lightning, and she saw her best friend, Ari, die…” Teri said quietly before bursting into tears.

 

John reached over and patted Teri on the back to comfort her. “Is that what you needed?” he asked in a dangerous tone.

 

Officer Castillo nodded. “That’ll do perfectly, as a matter of fact.”

 

“I- I just miss her so much, John! Why did we think it was a good idea to send Olivia, our baby, away? Especially after all her friends disappeared, even that new one, Ari! And it doesn't help that no one has any idea what happened to Sue and Jerry Granger!” Teri sobbed.

 

Officer Trudey looked around anxiously, obviously wanting to avoid having to comfort anyone. His job was to sit in the police station all day, not actually deal with people.

 

Ms. Keating closed her laptop, and stood up. “We’re good.”

 

Officer Castillo stood up. “I do wish you’d avoided sending Olivia to this… asylum. That would have made this whole process so much easier.”

 

John stood up. “We did what we did because Olivia needs to find her stability again. The warden promised he’d release her as soon as she showed signs of being stable again.”

 

“In my understanding, love isn’t sending someone off, not knowing when you’ll see them again. Love would be trying to listen to them and looking for the truth.” Officer Castillo said, shaking her head. “I just wish you’d found the love in your heart to truly listen to your daughter.”

 

“You-“ John snarled, turning around and snatching Officer Trudey’s coffee off the table.

 

He hurled it after Officer Castillo and Ms. Keating as they walked out of the cafe, but the doors closed just in time, and the ceramic cup shattered, spraying coffee all over the floor.

 

Officer Castillo and Ms. Keating pulled out umbrellas and walked across the street to their black car. Once inside, they slipped on their sunglasses, prepping for the sun that shone just outside of town. Officer Castillo stepped on the gas, and they zoomed out of town, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.

 

Back in the diner, Officer Trudey shook his head. “Californians.”

 

Back at Northridge, the bell rang again, announcing the end of the school day. Students streamed out of classrooms, excited to get home and away from the guards they saw outside the few windows Northridge had. The halls filled with the shouts of kids saying goodbye to their friends, arguing, or just screaming for no reason other than to scream.

 

Rain poured outside the building, hitting the roof and filling the school with the sound of rain. As the students neared the statue of the coyote in front of the windows to the outside where the rain fell relentlessly, time seemed to slow. The rain outside came to a near complete standstill and the students felt as if they were moving through some kind of invisible jello. 

 

Green fire erupted from the tile ground in front of the glass doors, forcing them open, and Maleficent appeared.

 

“Hello again, snot-nosed children,” she said.

 

Bellatrix appeared in a cloud of black smoke as outside, a tall man with black hair and shocking golden eyes approached the building, his hand outstretched and directed towards the students, seemingly unaffected by the rain he was walking through

 

“Kronos, you can stop that now,” Bellatrix said to the man outside “I think we’ve made our point clear…”

 

The man put down his hand, and joined Bellatrix and Maleficent inside the school. The rain began to fall normally again, and it spattered the tiles just inside the building, the wind pushing it in through the open doors.

 

“If it wasn’t obvious already, I’m Bellatrix, the one who murdered poor sweet Dobby in those books you love so much! Here, we have Maleficent, the dragon with all the powers of hell, and of course, Kronos, the greek god of time.” Bellatrix went on. “With all of that clear, I don’t think you’d mind us asking a few questions, hm?”

 

“Wha-what about the guards?” a brave student asked.

 

“We have a new recruit taking care of that right about… now,” Bellatrix said just as a boy wearing a wet looking black hoodie ran past, shurikens clutched in one hand.

 

“You’ll find we can be very persuasive,” Maleficent promised with a wicked grin.

 

She waved her hand at the coyote statue, and it’s eyes lit up, glowing a deep green. The stone statue slowly turned it’s head towards the students gathered behind it, and roared. The students all screamed.

 

“Now, we’ve come here with one purpose,” Bellatrix said, stalking forward. “To get as much information out of you as we can before we destroy the evidence.”

 

She whipped out her wand, and pointed it at a student. “Crucio!”

 

The boy shrieked in pain, but Bellatrix didn’t spend a lot of time on him, ending the spell after a few seconds.

 

“You see, chickies, it came to our attention that not just one, but two somehow managed to report what they saw to the police. Nobody believed them, but I’m sure you understand that we can’t have that!” Bellatrix went on.

 

“Now, tell us what we need to know,” Maleficent said.

 

“We don’t know what’s going on- please, just leave us be, we promise we won’t tell anyone!” a girl stammered.

 

Maleficent walked towards the girl, her staff echoing as she hit it against the floor with every step. Maleficent waved her hand over the glass orb on the top of the staff, and green energy swirled within and reflected into the girls eyes. The girl suddenly became very still, but didn’t say anything.

 

Maleficent angrily waved her hand over her staff again, releasing her hold on the girl, then stormed over to Bellatrix.

 

“She’s telling the truth. These imbeciles know nothing!” Maleficent snarled to Bellatrix.

 

Kronos frowned. “Was the brat incorrect in sending us here? Because if so, I’d love to choke the life out of that scrawny neck…”

 

“Control your bloodlust, Kronos,” Bellatrix sighed. “Soon enough, we’ll all jump at the opportunity, but for now, let’s play by the rules. We still do have to make sure these children remember nothing.”

 

Maleficent, clearly responding to some kind of cue, pulled her cell phone out of her dress, then dialed a number. 

 

“We need you and your magic- No, I don’t care if you’re enjoying your wine right now! Get down here!” Maleficent shouted into her phone.

 

She then smiled at the kids, and slipped the phone back into her dress. “Just a few moments.”

 

The lobby of Northridge Middle School was silent for a minute, then they heard the faint sound of a motorbike, gradually getting louder and louder. The students all gazed fixedly out the large windows in anticipation while the villains looked out at the crowd with confident smirks fixed on their faces.

 

A jarring red motorbike pulled up to the school, driven by a female figure in a red leather jacket. She jumped off the motorbike, and headed inside, confidently striding through the pouring rain. Once in, she pulled off the black motorbike helmet and googles. Shaking out her long blonde hair, she put the googles around the helmet and put it under one arm.

 

“You know,” she said to Maleficent. “I’d been aging that wine for a near 400 years now. 400 years! You’d think you ladies would have some respect for class and patience. _Trés horrible!_

 

“I have respect for getting things done, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do for us,” Bellatrix snarled.

 

Tatiana rolled her eyes. “What is it this time?”

 

“We need you to make sure these infants remember nothing about our presence here, nothing about Henry and the other’s disappearance. Do you get my gist?” Maleficent commanded.

 

“Perfectly,” Tatiana sighed. “You two need to remember that you have magic of your own, you know? Can’t expect a poor little girl like me to do all the dirty work!”

 

Bellatrix, Maleficent, and Kronos offered no reaction.

 

Tatiana lazily waved one finger, creating an odd pause in the weather outside. She then threw out her hands dramatically, and an odd wind rushed into the room, filled with leaves and smelling of roses. The wind knocked all the students- and Kronos- back, and they fell over.

 

“Tatiana!” Bellatrix shrieked. “By make sure they remember nothing, I meant murder! And Kronos- he’s the lord of time for hell’s sake!”

 

“Listen,” Tatiana said. “I’m in the business of executing my revenge- not the slaughter of children. I’ve got better things to do with my time. And Kronos? _Tragique accident!_ ”

 

Tatiana put her helmet back on her head, slipping the googles over her eyes, then walked out into the pouring rain. She sat down on her motorbike, turned the key in the ignition then zoomed away.

 

Maleficent shook her head. “She lives up to her name. The Countess. Already sounds snooty and full of itself.”

 

“We’ll do something about her when this is all over,” Bellatrix promised. 

 

“I’ll hold you to it,” Maleficent smiled.

 

Maleficent looked down at Kronos, who was out cold.

 

“He’ll wake up in an hour or two and remember nothing about this. What do we do about that? He’s a titan that can control time! Even the powers of hell can’t stop a beast such as that,” Maleficent remarked.

 

Bellatrix shook her head, then pulled her wand out of the sleeve of her black dress and waved it over Kronos. He disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

 

“That’s why we have to work together, Mal dearest,” Bellatrix said. “He’ll wake up back where we found him, and all we have to do is recruit him again.”

 

“Again?” Maleficent said, outraged. “I lost a scale! A scale!”

 

“We’ll send some lesser recruit to do it,” Bellatrix promised.

 

“The new one?”

 

“No, don’t be silly. We both know who’s pet that one is.”

 

The two were silent for a moment.

 

“Let’s get out of here, Mal,” Bellatrix said. “We’ve got to get out of here while we can, we don’t want that Olivia’s stories to gain any credibility.”

 

Maleficent nodded, and the two disappeared in black smoke and green fire.


	16. Purple Eyed

Marya skipped into Camp Halfblood’s living room, where Paris, Angelyn, and Elijah all sat in front of an ancient, boxy television, all sharing one blanket that was patterned with a dove icon. Clearly a blanket made by Hera. The room was dark, lit only by the flickering light from the tv screen.

 

Marya closed the door behind her, then removed the cherry lollipop she was sucking on and sat down in a leather reclining chair next to where everyone was seated on the floor. “What’s happening, guys?”

 

She had to admit it to herself- she was bored out of her mind. Never in her life would Marya have imagined she’d get bored when stuck in a place that’s supposed to be fictional, but here she was. It probably didn’t help the four of them had been confined to the Big House for their own safety.

 

“Conspiracy theories,” Paris muttered, not taking his eyes off the screen.

 

Marya turned to the television. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do.

 

The narrator was just finishing up a segment on the Illuminati. “… but could they be out there? We’re not sure, but there’s definitely signs. Keep your eye out, folks. We’ll be right back after this commercial break on a theorized secret government organization- and it’s ties to Edna Duncan, the recently deceased billionaire. Stay tuned!”

 

“This is really what you’re spending your time watching?” Marya asked.

 

Angelyn shrugged. “Not like we have anything better to do.”

 

Marya thought for a moment, then nodded, putting the lollipop back in her mouth.

 

The four of them watched the ads silently, then soon enough, the show was back. “Edna Duncan, billionaire, secret agent? Let’s go back to-“

 

The show was interrupted by a news bulletin. A rather serious looking news reporter sat behind a wooden desk, an image of the New York City skyline behind her. “We interrupt your viewing for an important message.”

 

The news reporter shuffled her papers, and the four of them leaned forward in interest. “We’ve received reports that yesterday afternoon, Northridge Middle School, located in Bentley, New Mexico, was attacked. Keep in mind that this isn’t the first, or the second, but the third time this school has suffered from terrorist-esque attacks. The town has been placed under indefinite lockdown, and no one will be able to leave or enter town until a thorough investigation has been done on each and every resident. “

 

All four of them exchanged terrified looks. Why attack Northridge a third time?

 

The news reporter went on to the next paper. “Concerned parents are still looking for Henry Granger, Marya Pearson, Angelyn Schwartz, Paris Rowe, Matthias Delgado, and Elijah Benson. We are, fortunately, pleased to announce that Olivia Terry was located and is now safe. Additionally, if anyone knows the location of Sue and Jerry Granger, please contact the police,” she paused for a moment. “Please, take a moment to dedicate your prayers to Bentley tonight. They need it.”

 

The broadcast ended, and the tv then switched back to showing conspiracy theories. Everyone was too horrified to pay attention.

 

“A t-third time?” Marya stammered, the lollipop falling from her mouth.

 

“This can’t be happening…” Paris moaned. “I thought they were all safe…”

 

“I really hope Greg is alright,” Angelyn muttered.

 

“That’s- true. We haven’t heard anything of him since we left Northridge,” Elijah remarked.

 

“Forget Greg, what about everyone else? He’s important to us and all, but what about all these guys that barely even know us?” Marya said. “We’re lucky they only killed the gym coach the first time around, and we don’t even know this time.”

 

Paris threw off the blanket so it was just on Angelyn and Elijah, then stood up, his face blank and unreadable. “I’m going to get Percy and Annabeth. They have to know what’s happening.”

 

Paris stumbled out of the room, blinking in the bright light that shone through the windows outside of the room in the hallway. He shut the door behind him, and Angelyn, Elijah, and Marya all turned to each other.

 

“At least- at least they’re closing the town, right? The terrorists can’t get in or out anymore,” Marya said, almost as if she was asking a question.

 

“I hope my mom and dad are okay…” Angelyn sighed. “They must be so worried,” she then laughed to herself, and shook her head. “The last thing they needed was for their daughter to disappear after their divorce, and I’ve gone and done that.”

 

Elijah looked Angelyn right in the eyes. “They’re your parents. They know you’re alright. Trust me on this, when someone you love dies, you’ll know. I knew when my mom died, just like how my Aunt Rhea and Richie know I’m alive now.”

 

Angelyn smiled slightly. “Hey… thanks Elijah.”

 

He nodded.

 

Just then, the door opened up, and Paris entered the room with Percy and Annabeth.

 

“Rewind, please,” Percy said, gesturing towards the tv.

 

Elijah grabbed the remote, and did as he asked. All six of them watched the news caster with bated breath, struggling to absorb the information. It just didn't seem possible. Three times- well, sure the first one was Henry, but the other two… What motivation did this villains have to attack the same place twice? Surely they’d logically have had it covered in the first attack, but no. None of this made any sense.

 

The news ended, and the show switched back to the conspiracy show again. Elijah shut the tv off, and they all sat in silence for a few moments.

 

Percy began to pace. “This is getting out of hand…” he murmured.

 

Everyone watched him pace and work out his thoughts.

 

He stopped suddenly. “I have no choice. I have to go speak with the Gods,” he said. “But it’s going to be challenging… they haven’t been the happiest since I turned down the offer of immortality at the end of the last war. They’ve barely spoken with us demigods!”

 

He began to pace again.

 

Annabeth crossed the room, and grabbed Percy’s arm, forcing him to stop. “Percy, calm down. It’s going to be alright. We’ll figure this out, just like we always do.”

 

“That’s why we’re all going to go to the gods together,” Marya said, rising from her chair. “You’re their children, they can’t be that mad.”

 

An hour later, the six of them were crammed into the camp bus, which was painted a bright yellow. They pulled up outside the Empire State Building, and climbed out of the bus, which quickly zoomed back into New York City traffic.

 

Paris looked up at the building, mouth open. “This is amazing!” he exclaimed.

 

Marya walked forward, and opened the door for everyone so they could step into the marble lobby. The ceiling above was illuminated by golden lights, and all the way at the end of the room, an image of the Empire State Building was embossed in the wall.

 

“You definitely don’t see anything like this growing up in Bentley,” Angelyn remarked.

 

Percy walked over to the elevator, and pressed the button to go up to the top floor. Marya bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement as the whir of the motors sounded, indicating the elevator was coming down to the ground floor.

 

The doors opened just as a misty image appeared in front of Annabeth, featuring Chiron. “I know that you’re busy-“ he shouted over the sound of yelling and screaming. “But Camp Halfblood is under attack! We need you here!”

 

The mist then abruptly disappeared, and the six of them stood there for a moment while the elevator doors closed.

 

“We’ve gotta go. This is important, but Camp Halfblood is under attack right now!” Percy exclaimed, running towards the exit.

 

Marya looked sadly back at the elevator, but followed after him along with everyone else. On her way out, Angelyn noticed a dark haired boy wearing sunglasses watching her and the others hurry away from the elevator. Probably another demigod, seeking audience with the gods. She couldn’t believe Olympus was parked over the Empire State Building.

 

The van was already waiting when they pushed through the doors, and the six of them clambered back in.

 

“We’ll come back another day,” Percy promised himself and everyone around him.

 

The van zoomed through the New York traffic, swerving around cars which honked loudly and running multiple red lights. It was a miracle they didn’t get ticketed or hit.

 

They pulled up the the very same hill that Angelyn, Paris, Marya, and Elijah could still remember climbing with Nico so vividly from just a few days ago. They were definitely in better shape now, but the camp? Not so much.

 

Smoke rose from within the valley, and the six of them quickly ran up the hill. Percy looked through the gate into camp, then quickly looked away.

 

“It’s intense in there, guys. Angelyn, Paris, Marya, Elijah? I’m gonna have to ask you guys to camp out in the Big House, with no weapons or abilities, you four won’t stand a chance.”

 

Elijah nodded in understanding, and Marya scowled, but reluctantly agreed.

 

Annabeth, clearly having just come up with a battle plan in her head, turned to Paris. “I’m going to escort the four of you to the Big House to keep you safe, but then you’re in charge of keeping everyone inside and hidden. Got it?”

 

“Uh, I’m not really qualifie-“ Paris started to say, but Annabeth took his hand, and dragged him through the gate.

 

As soon as they walked through, the heat from flames suddenly hit them, and shouting struck their ears. They watched in horror as a flaming arrow flew over their heads, and ignited one of the house cabins.

 

“Quickly!” Annabeth hissed.

 

Percy ran off to the battle while Annabeth got low to the ground. Everyone followed her lead, and crawled to the Big House. She watched as they walked through the door, then shut the screen part.

 

“Whatever you do, do not leave that building, you hear me? We promised to keep you four safe, and that’s a promise I intend to keep,” Annabeth said before running to join Percy.

 

They watched Percy direct water from the nearby nymph’s pond to extinguish the roof of the burning cabin before Paris shut the heavy front door.

 

The house was completely silent and devoid of life, all the lights off, a sharp contrast to the loud, burning world right outside that door. They stood there in the hall, it’s walls decorated with smiling pictures of campers, an inviting, yet worn red carpet leading further into the building… It didn’t fell right not bustling with activity. No one spoke for a minute, the only noise being the muffled sound of the battle outside, illumination provided only by low light filtering through the windows, lighting up the gently floating dust motes.

 

“We’ve got to do something,” Marya said, shattering the silence.

 

“They told us not to leave, Marya, and I trust Annabeth’s judgement,” Paris said. “She knows what she’s doing!”

 

Marya wildly gestured at the pictures of campers. “People are dying out there, Paris! For once in your life, do something where you aren’t playing by the same dumb rulebook everyone else does. We’re all tired of it, trust me.”

 

Angelyn turned to Marya. “Marya! He’s trying to protect us! It’s only what Annabeth and Percy wanted because of Henry and Hermione!”

 

“Angelyn!” Marya said mockingly. “He’s stopping us from potentially being useful! It’s only what, oh, I don’t know, literally everyone wants? For their lives to be saved? Like, hello?”

 

Angelyn sighed. “Listen, Marya. I’m all for saving people and bending the rules every now and then, but this is life and death. And, trust me, I am going to everything in my power to try and prevent another one of us from dying and becoming the next step in that prophecy actually gaining some credibility.”

 

Marya opened her mouth, but struggled to think of a valid argument.

 

“Let’s just hope for the best,” Elijah said with a smile.

 

Marya shook her head, but leaned against the wall with a frown on her face. It was clear to her she wasn’t changing anyone’s mind. Elijah moved over to stand next to her, but Marya shook her head, and Elijah moved back. Paris moved over to the window and grimly looked out at the battle outside while Angelyn sat down on the floor with a sigh.

 

“You know, if those villains knew the four of us were sheltered here… this camp would be as devastated as Northridge. They’d pull out all the stops,” Angelyn muttered to no one in particular.

 

Elijah nodded in agreement, then they all lapsed into silence, wincing when a scream got too loud outside.

 

After five minutes, Paris suddenly gasped, causing Angelyn to rise from the floor and move over to the window Paris was looking out.

 

“What is it, Paris?” Angelyn asked.

 

“I- I thought- this is going to sound so crazy- I thought I saw… Matthias,” Paris stammered.

 

“What?” Marya shrieked.

 

“He’s dead,” Elijah said, shaking his head. “We all saw that wound, there’s no way he survived. Please, don’t get my hopes up.”

 

“No, but look,“ Paris said, gesturing towards the window.

 

Everyone squished into the small space around the window, curious, yet terrified.

 

“I’m not seeing anything, Paris,” Angelyn said carefully.

 

“There!” Paris said, pointing.

 

Everyone’s eyes followed Paris’s finger to a figure wearing a dark hoodie and clutching shurikens. His hood was down, and they saw black hair and dark skin.

 

“That can’t be Matthias. He-he’s dead,” Elijah stammered. “That could be anyone, really. Anyone at all…”

 

“Now that I think about it, we never did see the body,” Marya said to herself. 

 

Angelyn nodded slowly.

 

“Well, that’s it,” Marya nodded. She walked into a room of the wall, and the sound of something being broken in that room was heard in the hallway. Marya emerged from the room clutching a spear that had been sealed in a glass case on top of a fireplace. “I’m going outside. If you want to save my life, you’d better come with me. This is way too much for me to pass up.”

 

Not knowing what else to do, Angelyn went into the room Marya has just exited and grabbed a particularly large piece of glass, followed by Elijah, who grabbed a fireplace poker. Paris pulled the curtain rod off of the wall above the window he was looking out, and held it, curtains still attached.

 

Marya opened the door, and the four of them cautiously stepped out onto the porch in front of the Big House.

 

The four of them stood shoulder to shoulder, overlooking the burning camp and the ongoing fight. Luckily for them, but perhaps not so lucky for Percy or Annabeth, neither of that duo was anywhere in sight. Will was also absent, someone they knew would have sent them right back into the Big House.

 

They looked in the direction of where they’d seen the Matthias lookalike, and sure enough, he was still there.

 

“Oi, Matthias!” Marya shouted.

 

The Matthias lookalike turned around, revealing a face the four of them would have recognized anywhere.

 

“Oh my god… that’s actually Matthias,” Angelyn muttered.

 

“He’s dead, he’s dead, we all saw it, how is this even happening right now?” Elijah asked no one.

 

Paris just shook his head in disbelief.

 

However, there was one thing that seemed… off about him. Nothing that any of them could pinpoint, especially not from this distance.

 

That distance didn’t last long, though, as Matthias stabbed a demigod near him in the heart with a blade produced from his sleeve, then started running towards the Big House. As he got closer, they all froze in shock as they realizing that his eyes _were purple_.

 

“Get inside. All of you! Now!” Annabeth shouted, rounding the corner of the Big House, somehow having already analyzed what was going to happen.

 

They didn’t need to be told twice. All four of them ran inside, slamming the door behind them. Paris jammed the curtain rod through the door handles, making sure Matthias couldn’t get in, then all four of them backed down the hallway, away from the window next to the front door. Once they reached a bend in the hallway, they all sat down next to each other so each one of them had a clear view of the front door and the window next to it.

 

“What the fuck. What the actual fuck just happened?” Marya said quickly. “Matthias’s eyes were purple! Purple! He was attacking demigods! He tried to attack us!”

 

“I- I just don't understand,” Paris stammered. “Maybe that wasn’t Matthias? A robot, or something?”

 

“He looked way too realistic for a robot,” Elijah sighed. 

 

“There has to be a logical explanation for this. There has to be!” Angelyn said loudly. “Maybe he survived after they took his body away, and used some hypnosis thing, and-“

 

“Angelyn. We just saw Matthias. We just saw the impossible. Even where we are right now is impossible. He’s somehow alive and turned, and we’re just going to have to deal with that,” Elijah said.


	17. The Loony Bin

_Day 5 in the loony bin. The food still doesn’t taste any better._ Olivia thought.

 

She sighed, and put the tray of slop on the floor, not interested in poisoning herself today. She looked around the room for the thousandth time, hoping for something, anything new. But no. Same white concrete walls. The only thing of interest besides the metal door was a small window that showcased a never-changing pine tree forest.

 

The only thing the wardens had allowed her to take in on her arrival was Ari’s necklace because they saw how much it meant to her. Everything else- her clothes, the food she’d had in her jacket pockets, even the answers to next week’s algebra test- were incinerated.

 

All she’d tried to do was tell the truth- they didn’t even have to believe her, all she’d wanted them to do was take notes. For Ari. She wouldn’t have believed herself if she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes. It wasn’t as if her parents had any shame either. Overall, Olivia was pissed. 

 

She paced the small room, her loose white hospital robe trailing behind her barefoot feet. She had to find a way out of here. Being stuck here forever just wouldn’t true- she’d prove to everyone that she wasn’t delusional. She knew that by this point, she could be one of the last people left from Northridge Middle School. It was clear Bellatrix, Tatiana, and Maleficent were going to stop short of nothing to get what they wanted, and she considered Henry culpable for setting the gym on fire.

 

After a few minutes of pacing, she figured out her plan. She was going to have to take out the nurse.

 

The nurse usually came in an hour after she first got her food to collect the tray for washing. And, just like clockwork, Olivia heard the rattle of a a latch being slid open, so she quickly picked up her tray, the food falling onto the floor, and ducked into the corner the door would hide when it was opened.

 

The wrinkled nurse, Mathilda, walked into the room, wearing a white pressed uniform. Her hair was done up in a very 60s fashion, which Olivia had found odd from day one but never worked up the nerve to comment on.

 

“Miss Terry?” Nurse Mathilda asked in a croaky voice, looking around the room.

 

“Right here,” Olivia said, stepping out from around the door. Before the nurse had a chance to respond, Olivia brought the tray down on the nurse’s elaborate hairdo. She went down like a rock, landing facedown in the slop.

 

“I’m really sorry,” Olivia said breathlessly.

 

She dropped the tray, and rummaged through the nurse’s pockets for some kind of identification card. She came up with nothing.

 

“I really hope no one has identification cards here,” Olivia said to herself.

 

She stood up, and after checking down the hallway a few times, left the room. She closed the door so it was only open a split crack, then started on her way down the hallway.

 

The hallway was very similar to the cells, with pristine white cement walls and floors and iron doors, none of them painted. Each door was locked by only a latch, no keys required. Olivia found that to be quite a security issue just in case someone decided to free all the prisoners. This asylum was lucky she just wanted to get herself out of there.

 

When she reached the end of the hallway, two more hallways stretched out in either direction. Olivia sighed. This place was pure evil, it just had to be a maze of hallways too. Angrily brushing some blonde hair out of her line of site, Olivia started heading right. You always turn right in a maze- or did you always turn left?

 

Olivia shook her head. “Fuck it.”

 

She walked quickly down the hallway, hoping that if she was brisk enough, she wouldn’t be noticed. She was almost to the end of that hallway when she heard someone call out.

 

“Olivia?” a voice asked hesitantly.

 

Olivia winced, knowing she was caught now, and slowly turned around. Escaping a second time wasn’t going to be nearly as easy, she could already tell that.

 

But, when she turned around, she was met with a familiar face. Sure, her black hair was tangled, her makeup wasn’t present, and she’d developed massive black circles, but Olivia would recognize Ari always. Ari was wearing a robe just like Olivia, and was carrying a mop and a bucket. The only thing that was truly changed about Ari were the eyes. While they’d once been bright and vibrant in New Mexico, the only word to describe them here would be tired.

 

“Ari? Is that really you?” Olivia asked.

 

Ari smiled slightly and nodded.

 

“What are you doing here? How’d you survive?” Olivia asked, hurrying over to Ari. “No, wait, hang on. You can tell me all that when we get out of this place and tell those cops the truth!”

 

Olivia tugged on Ari’s arm, ready for the two of them to start looking for the exit, but Ari didn’t budge.

 

“Ari?” Olivia asked.

 

“I- I can’t,” Ari said quietly.

 

“Oh, come on Ari! Why not? We’re stuck in an asylum, this isn’t okay!” 

 

“Olivia… I- we couldn’t have seen what we saw. That isn’t possible. There… there has to be another explanation, gas leak, insanity-“ she broke off to cough violently.

 

“Ari, listen to me,” Olivia begged. “Come with me. That coughing is the perfect reason, who cares if we’re insane! You moved to New Mexico because of your breathing issues, and here, they’re going to come back. This isn’t healthy!”

Ari tugged her arm out of Olivia’s grip. “No. I lied to the police, told Officer Gray what I saw- but that couldn’t have been what I saw, so I lied, Olivia! Do you have any idea how bad that is?”

 

“This Officer Gray can go fuck off. You didn’t lie, Ari, I saw the same thing you did! And- you know Greg, right? Well, Greg was there, he saw all of it, he’s the whole reason I’m alive right now, and why you’re alive! He warned us!”

 

“Maybe we’d be better off if he hadn’t…” Ari muttered.

 

Olivia grabbed Ari by the shoulders. “No. Don’t you say that. Those kids are all in green lightning induced comas now, no one knows when they’re going to wake up. We’re still strong, and we can get through this.”

 

Ari backed away. “Don’t you see, Olivia? There was no green lightning. There was no Maleficent or Countess or Bellatrix or Mr. Curtain. That couldn’t have happened. The last real thing that happened that day was the soccer game we played. If I keep on believing that any of that happened, then I truly belong here, so until I’ve accepted that what I saw was a trick of the mind, I’m staying in this asylum. Officer Gray knew what was good for me, my mama might not have liked it, but this is going to help, I know it.”

 

Olivia looked at Ari, tears in her eyes. “Ari, this isn’t you! Please!”

 

Ari was unmoved, and shook her head.

 

Olivia took a shaky breath, and removed the dream catcher from around her neck. “Y-you said it catches bad dreams. If anyone needs that luck now, it’s you Ari.” Olivia walked over to Ari, and slipped the necklace around her neck. The leather of the dreamcatcher stood out in sharp contrast to Ari’s white hospital robe.

 

This time, Ari was moved. “I’m- I’m still not leaving, but… I’ll help you get out, Olivia, if that’s really what you want.”

 

Olivia embraced Ari. “Do you promise you’ll try to contact me when you want out of here?”

 

Ari nodded and Olivia let a tear fall on Ari’s shoulder before pulling herself together and stepping away.

 

“What’s the first step?” Olivia asked.

 

“First,” Ari said, a bit of the excitement that had always been in her eyes coming back. “We’ve got to loose these robes.”

 

Ari put down the mop and bucket, and gestured for Olivia to follow her. Olivia nodded and the two girls crept down the hallway. After a turn, Ari hurried towards one of the many metal doors and opened it, gesturing for Olivia to follow her in.

 

Once they were in, Ari switched on the light and shut the door. The room was lined with nurse outfits and security personal uniforms.

 

“You know how I always loved my dramas, right?” Ari asked.

 

“Yeah,” Olivia nodded. 

 

“There was this one show I saw where someone dressed up as a nurse, the other as a patient, and that was how they escaped. So, you’ll be the patient, I’ll be the nurse, and I’ll push you out the door in a wheelchair to give you a head start, and I’ll just deal with the repercussions here.” Ari explained, pulling down a nurse uniform as she spoke.

 

“Repercussions? No, Ari, I don’t want to put you in a bad place with the staff here,” Olivia said, shaking her head.

 

Ari unfolded a wheelchair. “Don’t worry about me, my nurse has assured me that I’m one of the best patients she’s had. If anything, they’ll just revoke my privilege to do work here outside of my room.”

 

“But I am worried about you Ari! This is an asylum, that’s pretty far from a good place to be.”

 

Ari shrugged. “If by some fluke, what we saw was real, being locked up in a high security facility might be safer for me then trying to escape and run through the woods around this asylum.”

 

Olivia shook her head with a smile. “You’re too great at countering my arguments, Ari.”

 

“You know it!”

 

“And, either way, you have your dreamcatcher again. With that, you’ll find your way to good times again. I know it, that necklace somehow brought me back to. In a twisted way, sure, but if that isn’t a sign you need it again I don’t know what is.”

 

Ari patted the wheelchair. “Sit.”

 

Olivia did so, and Ari put her hair up in a messy bun, tying it back with the headband that came with the nurse uniform. She wheeled Olivia out of the room, walking briskly and confidently.

 

“You’re right,” Ari said quietly. “I do need it again.”

 

“You’ll get through this. I know you will,” Olivia reassured her.

 

“I certainly hope so,” said Ari as they approached an elevator.

 

Ari pushed the button. and luckily, when the elevator arrived at their floor, it was empty. Ari wheeled Olivia into the mirrored elevator, and pressed the button for the first floor. The doors slid shut and Ari checked herself in the mirror to make sure she looked nurse enough. The two waited in silence while the LED screen that indicated what floor they were in counted down from 14.

 

With a little ding, the elevator doors slid open, and Ari stepped out with a serious expression on her face. She clicked down the hall in her heels, and before Olivia knew it, they were in the lobby.

 

The lobby wasn’t much. There was an information desk, two plastic potted plants, and a serious of uncomfortable looking chairs lined up against one white wall. The most interesting thing in the room was the glass doors looking out into more pine tree forest.

 

“We really are in the middle of nowhere,” Olivia whispered.

 

Ari nodded, and continued pushing, right past the lady at the information desk.

 

“Just taking her out for some fresh air,” Ari grunted in a low voice.

 

“I know who you are, Miss Moore,” the lady said. “That’s my job. Stop right there, we’re sending you back to your rooms. And this time, there will be no time wandering the halls.”

 

Ari froze, one part of her brain telling her to keep going and get Olivia out of there, the other part telling her Olivia would be safer in here with her.

 

“Miss Terry, that goes for you too. I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from Nurse Mathilda in the last fifteen minutes.”

 

Ari turned around to face the information desk lady. “No. I don’t know what kind of organization you’re running here, but this isn’t right. It isn’t humane to keep people locked up in a cell all day long, and I can promise you that as soon as I think I’m sane again, I’m phoning my parents to get me out of this freakish place.”

 

Olivia grinned to herself. That necklace was helping Ari see clearly!

 

“Ari, Ari, Ari. Don’t be an idiot, this is a safe place. It’s for your health, you’ve got to see that!” the information desk said, her demeanor changing completely.

 

“Olivia, go!” Ari shouted, giving Olivia’s wheel chair a solid push. “Find a way out, then come back for me, you here?”

 

“I will!” Olivia promised as the wheel chair rushed towards the glass doors. Olivia put her hands in front of her face as the chair collided with the door, throwing her forward and out of the building.

 

“Get her!” the information desk shouted as Olivia stumbled to her feet, the wheelchair’s upturned wheels spinning wildly.

 

Olivia looked down a long dirt road, stretching out to infinity in-between a sea of endless trees. These place had to have cars, so she decided to run around the building and disappear into the forest and hopefully run into a city.

 

Olivia ran past a sign, naming the place the Graywood Institute for the Criminally Insane.

 

“Talk about rude,” Olivia muttered as she ran around the cement building and entered the endless looking forest of pine trees.

 

Hearing shouts and the barking of dogs behind her, Olivia ran faster, her white hospital gown flapping behind her, bare feet pounding the ground. She realized her feet would probably have a thousand scratches after this, but for now, all she needed to focus on was escape.

 

As she ran, she wondered if Ari was alright, and said a quiet prayer for her well being. The last thing she wanted was for Ari to get hurt because of her. And there was no way she could handle that after thinking Ari was dead for the past few days and just discovering she was still alive.

 

After a while, she stopped hearing the frantic barking of dogs, so she sat down against a tree to catch her breath. That run was more exercise then she’d gotten in gym class for the past month.

 

While trying to breath, she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her.

 

Olivia turned around quickly. “Who’s there?”

 

There was no answer.

 

As soon as Olivia started to think she’d just imagined it, she saw a flash of black fabric, looking like the bottom of a dress. There was no way that could be someone from the asylum.

 

“Hello?” Olivia called out.

 

Almost as some sort of response, a sudden white mist flowed in, stretching out just near the tree she’d seen the black fabric at.

 

“Please don’t tell mer there’s another fictional character hanging around,” Olivia sighed.

 

She stood up slowly, and walked in a circle around the patch of mist. Something about this definitely wasn’t natural. Curious, Olivia picked a stick up off the ground, and prodded the mist. Nothing.

 

Next, she hurtled it at it. It didn’t come out on the other side.

 

“When will stuff start making sense again?” Olivia groaned.

 

After a moment’s hesitation, Olivia shoved her hand through the mist. It felt like… mist. Olivia shook her head and rolled her eyes. What had she been expecting?

 

She was about to step back when she suddenly heard the barking of dogs and the shouts of more security guards. It was then she realized she had a decision to make- and quickly. She could either risk stepping completely through this mist and disappearing like the stick had done- or keep running and probably get caught by the guards after a time.

 

It was a no brainer. Olivia took a deep breath, then boldly stepped into the mist. She didn’t emerge on the other side.


	18. Cahills

Henry scowled, arms crossed. He shook his head at the Institute.

 

“I can’t believe we traveled all the way to New York and they’re not willing to help,” he muttered. “Like, I get that we’re asking a lot and it’s hard to believe, but of all people I thought someone like Clary Fray would get it.”

 

Hermione nodded sympathetically. “It hasn’t been the first, and it won’t be the last.”

 

“At least we got the Kanes on our side yesterday,” Henry agreed.

 

Hermione smiled and nodded, then opened up her bag. Pulling out a rather wrinkled looking notepad, she flipped a few pages in, then, pulling a pen from her bag, crossed out The Mortal Instruments.

 

“Next, we’re visiting the Cahills,” Hermione said.

 

“Do you think we could stop by Camp Halfblood and check up on my friends?” Henry asked. “I mean, we’re already here in New York, and everything…”

 

Hermione shook her head. “We’ll catch up with everyone, you with your friends, and me with mine, once we’re done with this, alright? Trust me, everyone will be safe where they are. There’s no way either Hogwarts or Camp Halfblood is going down.”

 

“Yeah, they are both pretty well defended.”

 

Hermione nodded, then stretched out her hand to Henry. Henry grinned, and took it, then the two twisted and apparated.

 

They arrived on a flat, pebbled beach that led into a an ancient looking graveyard, partially overgrown by tall grasses. The thing that stood out the most to them, however, was the massive cliff that dominated the landscape.

 

Henry quickly pulled Hermione behind a massive boulder near them, then gestured towards the cemetery. 

 

_“There’s some people tied to the graves there, but we can’t do anything. If we interfere, there’s no way these characters are going to join us. They’re going to be too busy tearing out each other’s throats.”_ Henry thought to me.

 

_“Okay, then, remind me, why are we here then? This seems awfully risky, Henry…”_

 

_“They’re Cahills! Super intelligent, super strong, super artistic, you name it, they’re definitely the people we want on our side in this war.”_

 

_“Do you keep on forgetting that I haven’t read the books yet?”_

 

_“No, Hermione, I can read your mind! Just- hang back, I’ll handle this one.”_

 

After crouching behind the boulder for around 15 minutes, several people, mostly teenagers, emerged from the tall grass, and ran to the people tied to the graves.

 

_“Just a bit longer…”_ Henry thought to Hermione. _“They’re going to head to their transportation.”_

 

Hermione turned away from the tearful reunion in the graveyard to look at the beach, where an expensive looking yacht, a helicopter, and even a submarine sat waiting to bring the Cahills home. No wonder Henry wanted them on their side! They were loaded!

 

Soon enough, everyone started to leave the graveyard. Henry had definitely done his research.

 

_“Okay, now,”_ Henry thought to Hermione.

 

The two of them stood up, and stepped out from behind the boulder, trying their best to ignore their pained joints. Crouching for a long period of time wasn’t easy.

 

The Cahills stopped, and stared them down.

 

“What now?” a serious looking boy with dark brown hair drawled. “We’ve just reunited, the different branches are actually getting along now, and what, you two are here to blow that all up?”

 

_“That’s Ian Kabra, a Lucian. That’s the part of the family that is typically spies and assassins,”_ Henry thought to Hermione.

 

“No, we need your help,” Henry said.

 

“Help? Help?” a young boy with brown hair said hoarsely, who Henry identified as Dan. “We’re tired, we’re injured, we need the help!”

 

“Listen,” said a girl, older than Dan, who Henry identified as Amy, Dan’s older sister. “We’re all for helping people- just not right now, okay?”

 

“Just hear Henry out,” Hermione sighed.

 

Henry explained the siltation, but the Cahills still looks doubtful.

 

“Why should we trust you?” Ian snarled, arms crossed.

 

“As far as we’re concerned, magic doesn’t exist,” a burly man Henry called Eisenhower said.

 

Hermione rolled her eyes, and whipped her wand out of her bag, and pointed it at a rock. 

 

“Aguamenti!”

 

Fresh, clear water poured from the wand and streamed down the grey face of the rock, forming a small puddle on the pebbly beach below. The Cahills stood in stunned silence, while Hermione smirked, slipping the wand back into her bag.

 

“How about now?” Henry asked.

 

“Okay… I guess we believe you. Or at least… I do,” Amy said.

 

Dan nodded, and everyone else slowly followed their lead.

 

Henry turned to Hermione and grinned widely and she smiled back.

 

“We’re going to need to ask you to make your way to Kings Cross Station in London, and- I know this sounds weird- walk between the barrier between platform nine and ten. Take the Hogwarts Express, and then we’ll see you guys soon!” Hermione explained.

 

“You guys have totally got the transportation down, right?” Henry asked.

 

Ian rolled his eyes, and Amy nodded.

 

“Awesome!” Henry cheered.

 

“You’re gonna need to grow up a little, kid,” Eisenhower said, patting Henry on the shoulder with a huge hand. “Can’t lead an army with that kind of attitude. You might just end up getting yourself killed.”

 

Henry frowned, but nodded slowly.

 

“War generals are strong, powerful-“ Eisenhower went on.

 

“Cunning. Ruthless.” Ian jutted in.

 

“Intuitive!” An older man Henry called Alistair added.

 

“And clearly, super creative,” a confident looking boy Henry named Jonah grinned.

 

“Just be yourself,” Amy smiled. “If there’s truly a threat out there- don’t worry, I’m sure your charisma and skill will carry us through.”

 

“Thanks for the advice, I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Hermione smiled tightly.

 

Henry and Hermione watched as the Cahills headed off towards their yachts, helicopters, submarines, you name it, and took off in the same direction, zooming across the ocean.

 

Meanwhile, across an ocean, Camp Halfblood was preparing for departure. A fleet of wooden ships sat moored on the coast of the beach across from the hill that led up to Camp Halfblood, stocked full of supplies for their journey to England.

 

Angelyn sat on her bunk in the bedroom, scanning the small room for any possessions she wanted to take with her. It wasn’t like she had much to begin with, she hadn’t really had time to pack before being kidnapped.

 

She unzipped her red school backpack that had somehow made it through the whole ordeal with her, and pulled out her math notebook just for kicks. It seemed like such a long ago that she’d been struggling to understand the slope of a line, chatting with the many friends she had in that class who complained that math was completely useless.

 

Paris knocked on the door frame of the room, causing Angelyn to look up.

 

“Hey Angelyn,” he said. “All packed?”

 

Angelyn nodded. “Yeah. Just reminiscing.”

 

“Reminiscing about what?” Paris asked, walking into the room and sitting next to her on the bed.

 

“Just school and stuff, back before all this crazy stuff happened and the most challenging thing in my life was my math homework.”

 

“Well, as you’re aware, I’m a genius, so that was never a problem for me. But otherwise, yeah, crazy that we were in school not that long ago.”

 

“Oh, shut up Paris, one of these days I’m going to punch you in the face when you go on one of your genius rants.” Angelyn joked.

 

“Well anyway, I actually came in here to let you know we’ll be leaving in around 10 minutes,” Paris said.

 

“Okay, thanks,” Angelyn smiled.

 

Paris nodded, then got up from the bed. “Guess I’ll see you where the boats are docked then.”

 

“Yeah, totally.”

 

After Paris left the room, Angelyn sighed, slipped her math notebook back into her backpack and zipped it up. She took one last look around the room that had been her safe haven for the last two weeks or so, then slung the backpack over her shoulder and started down the hallway.

 

She ran into Marya, who was sitting at the foot of the stairs that led to the second floor, holding the red cloth with the eyes painted on she’d found in the attic on their first day.

 

“Do you think they’d be offended if I took this? After thinking long and hard, I realized, I’m just as desperate as whoever this belonged to,” Marya asked.

 

Angelyn snorted. “I know you’re not that desperate, Marya. You just broke up with your last girlfriend, what, two months ago?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

 

“Also, probably safest not to take that, it was probably locked in that attic for a reason. Who knows what powers or curses it has?”

 

“I guess you’re right,” Marya sighed. “Don’t want to make that prophecy about us a cursed prophecy, especially after seeing Matthias apparently resurrected and apparently hating our guts. I’m just always on the lookout for souvenirs, ya know?”

 

“Trust me Marya, the last thing any of us can explain is Matthias. I’ve been trying to keep it at the back of my mind,” Angelyn admitted. “Try to find a less magical souvenir, and I’ll see you outside.”

 

Angelyn left Marya sitting on the step, hoping she wouldn’t take the weird piece of cloth. She pushed open the front doors, and stepped out onto the porch and into the sunlight. For a camp that’d been involved in a battle a matter of days ago, it was clear the people here knew how to clean up. Any remains of the battle had been swept up, fires extinguished, and reconstruction had already started on anything that had burnt down.

 

She walked through camp to get through the gate, then walked through it to get to where the towering wooden ships were docked, their tall masts and sails almost as tall as the massive hill that led up to the Camp Halfblood gate.

 

Angelyn spotted Elijah talking to Annabeth and Percy near one of the ships, so she headed that way. She stumbled her way down the steep hill, her backpack weighing her down, and hurried across the road that cut the beach off from the hill, the ships and crowd of campers somehow masked from the ordinary folk driving past.

 

“Hey guys,” Angelyn called as she approached them.

 

“Hey Angelyn,” Elijah waved.

 

When Angelyn got there, Annabeth sighed. “I have to admit something,”

 

“What is it?” Angelyn asked.

 

“We’re only leaving now cause that battle nine days ago seriously stressed me out. Right after that, I started planning this whole trip for the camp, and I mean, it isn’t like you guys are helping me out here by leaving the Big House when I specifically tell you not to!”

 

Percy placed his hand on Annabeth’s shoulder. “Annabeth! They’re just… kids.”

 

“Shut up, seaweed brain. Don’t forget what I dealt with when I first arrived at Camp Halfblood when I was still a weenie.”

 

“It was Marya, I’m sorry Annabeth. Paris couldn’t stop her.” Angelyn explained.

 

“I know, I know,” Annabeth sighed. “You guys did think you saw your dead friend out there, so I honestly can’t blame you.”

 

“Do you think Nico could check for us?” Elijah inquired.

 

“Possibly?” Percy guessed

 

“Nico’s back? Since when?” Angelyn asked.

 

“He and Clarisse got back from their mission four hours ago, they hadn’t found anything incredibly suspicious yet so we called them back early.” Annabeth explained.

 

“Come on Elijah, let’s ask,” Angelyn pleaded.

 

“We’ll talk to you guys later!” Elijah called out as they walked into the crowd.

 

Angelyn crinkled her nose as they surveyed the crowd.

 

“There!” Elijah exclaimed, pointing at a figure dressed in black who was talking to someone dressed in what they’d both learned to identify as the nurse uniform.

 

The two pushed through everyone to reach Nico and Will, who were arguing.

 

“For the last time, stop shadow-traveling!” Will grumbled. “A trip from France to New York? What were you thinking? We both know that could have killed you, Nico.”

 

“But here I am,” Nico shot back.

 

“Hey,” Angelyn waved. “How was the mission, Nico?”

 

“Completely worthless,” Nico scowled. “Clarisse and I scoured this one french town, even the red castle everyone wanted us to check out, which was not easy to break into, and nothing. Then to make it even worse, they sent me with Clarisse of all people! When she snores it’s like some giant is shaking the earth, so I haven’t slept in the last two weeks.”

 

“And then you shadow-traveled? Do you want to see the Underworld?” Will reprimanded.

 

“Been there, done that. I know my dad would somehow kill me again if I ended up there already, so no, no big interest in dying anytime soon.”

 

“I’m really sorry the mission wasn’t successful. But I’m sure you’re next one will be great!” Elijah said, all sunshine and rainbows as usual.

 

“Anyway, I have to change the topic here so, sorry about that, but while you were gone Camp Halfblood was attacked and we thought we saw our dead best friend? Is there any way you could check to see if he’s dead as a child of Hades and all?” Angelyn asked.

 

Nico frowned. “It was… Matthias, right?”

 

Angelyn nodded.

 

“I could, but not right now, I’m too drained from shadow-traveling, and it’s a process that takes time. When we get to Hogwarts, I promise I will. Also, can I just say… how the hell was Camp Halfblood attacked?”

 

“I’ll fill you in later, once we get you all healed up,” Will said.

 

Nico shook his head dramatically. “I’m being held hostage by a nurse. A freaking nurse!”

 

Angelyn laughed as they walked away, then turned to Elijah. “You know, I think I can see what Marya was talking about.”

 

Elijah nodded slowly, a knowing look on his face.

 

“Anyway, I’m sure damn excited to see Hogwarts. You ready for this, Elijah?” 

 

“You bet I am.”


	19. The Sorting

Elijah sat in one of the train compartments on the Hogwarts Express, dangling his feet. Rain pounded against the roof of the train, and occasionally, thunder boomed and lightning brightly illuminated their train compartment, a sharp contrast to the dead of night outside the train window. Angelyn had gone to the bathroom a minute ago, and wasn’t back yet. After two days on an extraordinarily speedy boat from New York, everyone was understandably glad to have their feet back on dry land.

 

“I’m surprised you haven’t gone looking for snacks yet,” Elijah said to Marya.

 

Marya turned away from the train window, where she’d been watching rain run across the glass. She nodded slowly. “You know Elijah… thanks. Like, seriously, I wouldn’t have lived if I’d missed out on my chance to get some of those tasty wizard snacks.”

 

She stood up, adjusting her leather jacket. “Anyone wanna come with?”

 

Elijah shook his head. “I’m waiting for Angelyn to come back.”

 

Paris shrugged, then stood up. “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

 

Marya nodded, then pushed open the compartment door, holding it open for Paris. The corridor outside was dark, illuminated only by the lights from the occupied compartments.

 

“I swear to god, I’m not giving you any extra change this time around, I know how you get when it comes to sweets,” Paris declared.

 

Marya dramatically put her hand over her heart. “Paris! That hurts, my heart can’t take this kind of abuse!”

 

Paris rolled his eyes and started down the corridor, passing by compartments full of demigods he’d met at Camp Halfblood and other people he recognized, but couldn’t name. Marya waved goodbye to Elijah, then hurried to catch up with him.

 

“You do still owe me 20 bucks from last time,” Paris informed her.

 

“Shut the fuck up Paris,” Marya muttered.

 

The two then stopped to wave at a compartment contained Clarisse and Rachel. Basically everyone they knew had come with them, except Chiron, who was one of the few who’d elected to remain and protect Camp Halfblood. They moved into the next compartment, and ran into Nico in the hallway.

 

“Nico!” Marya grinned. “How’s Will?”

 

“H-he’s great, I guess?” Nico stammered, completely missing Paris’s eye roll.

 

“Anyway,” Paris interjected, knowing Marya was about to make everything awkward. “Who are all the people on this train, anyway? Some of these people look so familiar!”

 

“Percy said they’re a power family, called the Cahills or something. Basically, the make up the vast majority of celebrities and stuff,” Nico muttered.

 

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of ‘em,” Marya said. “But as I was saying, Nico-“

 

Paris grabbed Marya’s arm and started to pull her down the corridor. “We’ve really got to get to the snacks, Marya is just _dying_ of hunger here!”

 

Nico nodded and waved goodbye slowly.

 

“Wow. Way to make us seem weird, Paris,” Marya hissed as Paris let go of her arm.

 

“Better than you bullying him into admitting he has something going on with Will,” Paris shot back.

 

“You’ve gotta admit it sure looks like it. Even Angelyn agrees with me!”

 

Paris’s only response was a massive sigh.

 

Soon enough, they arrived at a cart piled high with all sorts of goodies. A black-haired teenage girl sat behind the cart, blowing bubbles with her bubblegum.

 

“What’ll it be?” she asked.

 

Marya ended up buying half the cart, and Paris was forced to purchase a bag for Marya to carry it all in.

 

“This is so good, isn’t it?” Marya said gleefully as she tore into a box of Bertie Bott’s. 

 

“It’s amazing,” he moaned into a pumpkin pastry.

 

The two were almost back to their compartment when suddenly, all the lights in the train flickered once, then went out, plunging the train into darkness. The train screeched to a sudden halt. 

 

Doors opened up and down the corridor, Cahills and demigods alike trying to see what was happening. Angelyn and Elijah joined Paris and Marya as soon as they spotted them.

 

“Do you guys have any idea what’s going on?” Angelyn whispered.

 

Paris shook his head.

 

“Well, I’ve gotta put all the candy down,” Marya said, heading into the compartment.

 

She’d just placed the bag on one of the seats when she suddenly paled. She pointed to the train window, where a fine layer of ice was beginning to coat the window.

 

“Dementors,” she whispered before collapsing to the floor.

 

The other three turned slowly to look down the corridor, where a dark hooded figure in long, swirling robes floated down the corridor, a skeletal hand outstretched.

 

People were quick to duck back into their compartments, as were Paris, Angelyn, and Elijah.

 

The three sat in silence, hoping the dementor would pay them no mind. But, as soon as the dementor reached their compartment, the hand reached out for the door handle, and the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees, so they could all see their breath.

 

Suddenly, the door to the compartment next to theirs suddenly opened, and a man with a long white beard and half-moon glasses stepped out. Dumbledore pointed his wand at the dementor, and shouted “Expecto Patronum!”

 

A silvery animal no one could quite make out leaped from the end of his wand and chased the dementor down the corridor. Within moments, all the lights flickered back on, and Marya’s eyes opened.

 

“Wha-what happened?” she muttered groggily.

 

No one answered her, for as soon as Dumbledore had time to relax, a woman with messy black hair and tattered black robes threw open the door at the end of the corridor. Bellatrix Lestrange.

 

“Albus, it’s been to long,” Bellatrix cooed, striding her way over to him.

 

“Miss Lestrange,” Dumbledore remarked. “It never is pleasant seeing one of my former students after they’ve fallen so far.”

 

Bellatrix nodded slowly, and began to pace, a grin on her face. “Yes, that may be true. I may have fallen. But! I’m about to rise.”

 

“Rise? Why, Miss Lestrange, I believe you’re rather mistaken. You may have escaped Azkaban, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the wizarding world will allow you to walk among us again.”

 

“I know dumb is in the name, Dumbledore, but wow! You really think I don’t know about the letter? Please! You can’t play dumb with me, I even know who sent it, while you don’t. Ha! I know more than you! Haha!” Bellatrix mocked.

 

“We’ve stopped you before, we’ll lock you up again.”

 

“Oh! Is that a threat I hear? You’re wrong about that, Albus. This time, there are things at play beyond your comprehension, and you’ll only find out once it’s too late and once this world is burning.”

 

“Bella-“

 

“Give it up!” Bellatrix shrieked, cutting him off. “There’s a war coming, and if you even want to stand a chance you’d better tell those heroes of your to put a whole lot more effort into that pathetic army you’re forming. For now, tata Albus, I’ll be seeing you again before you know it.”

 

Bellatrix disappeared in a flash of black smoke.

 

Angelyn turned to everyone else, a huge frown on her face. “I’ve just gotta say… for the first time since Shadowvein I’m truly worried about what’s gonna happen next.”

 

Dumbledore waved his wand and summoned four chocolate bars appear on the seat next to Marya’s bag of candy.

 

“Eat those,” he instructed. “And don’t worry too much, I will do my best to discover everything I can.”

 

Dumbledore went back into the compartment next door, then we heard a loud crack, making us all jump.

 

Marya rolled her eyes from the floor. “He’s just disaprating guys, don’t worry about it. And either way, I’ve yet to see a gun even with all these fictional characters.”

 

She got up to grab a chocolate, and we all followed her lead.

 

After we each devoured a chocolate bar, we went next door to see what Dumbledore had been up to, and found Annabeth, Percy, Dan, and Amy.

 

“Hey guys,” Annabeth said, smiling grimly.

 

“We were discussing strategy before that whole mess,” Percy sighed.

 

“I really don’t know a thing about strategy but here I am because Amy and I were chosen to represent the Cahills for whatever reason,” Dan explained. “Anyway, who are you guys?”

 

“Dumbledore seemed pretty interested,” Amy added.

 

“I’m Angelyn, and here we have Elijah, Paris, and Marya,” Angelyn said, gesturing to each of us in turn.

 

“They’re the heroes’ friends,” Annabeth elaborated. 

 

“Oh, cool. Nice to meet you guys!” Dan grinned. “What were we saying?”

 

“Bellatrix and the dementor attack, the halting of the train, seriously Dan where is your head?” Amy said, exasperated.

 

“This magic stuff is new to the both of us! Just two days ago getting along with our own family members was a challenge and now we’re trying to organize our own sector of an army? Hello? I’m just some teenager!” Dan exclaimed. Then he looked around, and paused for a second. “Oh. Hahaha, we all are.”

 

Annabeth shook her head, a little bit of a grin on her face. “So, as we were saying, the dementors were probably a way for Bellatrix a power show, but you think it was to find info, Amy, and Percy, you think they were outright organizing an attack.”

 

As the compartment shifted into strategy talk, time passed, and before anyone knew it, they were at Hogwarts.

 

Angelyn, Paris, Elijah, and Marya were all crammed into one black carriage pulled by a black skeletal horse. 

 

Marya pointed to one of the horses. “Those are thestrals. Only those who have seen… death… can see them,” Marya said quietly, hesitating at the word death because they’d all been through so much since they’d last been enrolled at Northridge Middle School.

 

The carriages pulled up to a breathtaking castle that towered into the night sky above it. The clouds having just cleared, every window of the castle glowed with light that reflected beautifully onto the lake below the castle. The four of them stepped out of the carriage and took a few moments to take in the incredible view that had been completely fictional until not that long ago.

 

McGonagall met everyone in the entrance hall. She wore a towering black witch hat and robes that made her look more intimidating then any of the four ever imagined.

 

“Now,” she said loudly. “Here at Hogwarts, our castle is magic. Professor Dumbledore and I have made arrangements, and the castle has created rather large dormitories for the all of you.”

 

She dug into her robes, then produced two maps, which she handed to Percy and Amy. 

 

“When you go through these doors, you’ll find a large hallway with various dormitories. Look for the door with your symbol on it- trust me, you’ll recognize it when you see it- and behind there you’ll find where you’ll be staying for the foreseeable future.”

 

Amy raised a hand. “May I ask, how does any of this work? I mean, how does a hallway just contain dormitories?”

 

McGonagall smiled. “This isn’t just a hallway, it’s actually a room. We call it the Room of Requirement, and it can become whatever it needs to be at any point in time. It’s done this and maintained our heroes room all in this one hallway!”

 

Amy turned to Dan and Ian, and the three started to whisper eagerly.

 

“If you have any problems, just contact the house elves!” McGonagall called after the demigods and Cahills as they left the entrance hall.

 

“Now… what about us?” Paris asked.

 

“Dumbledore has arranged for the four of you to be sorted,” McGonagall said with a smile. “Follow me,”

 

She walked towards two heavy wooden doors, and pushed them open, revealing the Great Hall. The four gazed, mouths wide open, as they looked at the floating candles and enchanted ceiling.

 

“Only in my wildest dreams did I ever believe this would happen…” Marya muttered.

 

The Great Hall was empty other than the sorting hat, which sat on a stool in front of the long tables.

 

“We can’t do a proper ceremony because it’s so late at night, but the four of you need places to sleep,” McGonagall explained.

 

“Trust me, this is quite alright,” Elijah chuckled. “I couldn’t handle getting up in front of all those people.”

 

“Well then,” McGonagall smiled. “You can go first.”

 

Elijah sat in the stool, and the second the hat touched his head, he was named a Hufflepuff. Angelyn followed, and became a Gryffindor in no time. The hat thought for a while with Marya before naming her a Slytherin, and took even longer with Paris before finally shouting out Ravenclaw.

 

“Thank you so much Professor McGonagall,” Angelyn said once it was all over.

 

“Of course, of course,” McGonagall hummed. “Anyway. I recommend you all get to bed soon, breakfast doesn’t wait for anyone.”

 

“We will,” Paris nodded.

 

McGonagall nodded firmly, then turned around and left the Great Hall.

 

Angelyn took a deep breath, then turned to face Paris and Marya. “I have news.”

 

“News?” Marya asked.

 

“While you two were off getting sweets, Elijah and I… well, we kissed.”

 

Paris stared at her, horrorstruck. He’d spent the last three years secretly crushing on her, not wanting to tell anyone in case they told her, and now? He was too late. And it was all Elijah’s fault.


	20. Beautifully Vicious

Two months had passed since Angelyn had first dropped that bombshell on Paris, and not a day passed where Paris didn’t think about talking to Elijah. With every passing day, something came up that got in the way of a talk, such as the Loredan family arriving from Italy or the four of them gathering and reminiscing about the day nearly three months ago, now, where Henry had initially set fire to the gym.

 

It didn’t help that every day he didn’t talk to Elijah, the more irrelevant the issue felt as Angelyn and Elijah couldn’t decide wether to start a relationship or hold off until after the war. They were definitely a thing, but not something he wanted to get between. There were bigger issues than his petty issues with Elijah, Paris thought.

 

But that night, Paris woke up, drenched in a cold sweat. He’d dreamed about it again. Angelyn and Elijah making out in the train compartment, something he hadn’t seen but also something he could visualize all too clearly. He couldn’t shake the thought out of his head that if Angelyn died in this war, like they’d thought Matthias had, she’d never know that Paris secretly had feelings for her too.

 

Paris threw back the blue covers of his four poster bed, and stood up, his bare feet hitting the cold stone floor of the Ravenclaw common room. He grabbed his slippers, and after slipping them on, crept quietly out of the room, not wanting to wake up everyone else in that room. He walked carefully down the winding staircase into the tall ceilinged main room, then pushed open the door and exited Ravenclaw tower.

 

After taking a moment to think, Paris decided that tonight would be the night he’d talk to Elijah. He walked through the castle until he reached the round door near the kitchens that led to the Hufflepuff common room. He knocked on the door, and a sleepy looking Hufflepuff opened it.

 

“You want Elijah, right?” the boy asked, recognizing Paris.

 

Paris nodded, and the boy shut the door as he went to go and fetch Elijah.

 

Paris stood there for a minute or two before, arms crossed, before Elijah reopened the door.

 

“What’s up, Paris?” Elijah asked groggily. “It is two in the morning ya know.”

 

“Just wanted to talk,” Paris said, forcing a smile.

 

Elijah nodded, and shut the door. He crossed his arms, the chill of the Hogwarts hallways going right through his bathrobe.

 

“Let’s walk,” Paris suggested.

 

Elijah gave Paris a weird look, but nodded, and walked with him anyway. Eventually, they reached an empty hallway that was near Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Paris stopped under the singular torch burning in that hallway, and turned to Elijah.

 

“Awfully dark in here,” Elijah chuckled. “Who put all these torches out anyway?”

 

“Who cares, Elijah?” Paris sighed.

 

Elijah gave Paris another look. “Just speak your mind, Paris. I really want to get this over with, you’re kinda freaking me out right now.”

 

Paris took a deep breath, and said very quietly, very dangerously, “Why did you kiss Angelyn?”

 

“Because I wanted to,” Elijah replied simply. “We have feelings for each other.”

 

Paris looked at Elijah, indignation on his face. “How dare you.”

 

“I can make my own decisions, Paris,” Elijah explained. “Why are you so mad at me anyway? It’s not like we did anything horrible.”

 

“Can’t you tell that I’ve liked her all these years?” Paris snarled.

 

Elijah was shocked. “Wait, really? Of course I couldn’t tell, we all know I’m awful at picking up hints! I wouldn’t have done anything if I’d known it would piss you off, Paris, seriously.”

 

“Oh, I bet you would have. What is this? Some twisted way at getting back at me for, what, getting mad at Marya when she told us what she’d told Henry a thousand years ago? Or is this something else, like when I was against letting your younger brother, Richie join our group? What have I done to you for you to do this to me?”

 

Elijah shook his head. “No, Paris, listen, I kissed Angelyn on that train because I like her not because of some twisted revenge plan. You’re rage is blinding you Paris, you know I wouldn’t start issues, especially when we’re literally about to be involved in a war.”

 

Paris looked up at the torch, tears in his eyes. “I just can’t believe that one of my _best friend_ didn’t notice what was so obvious.”

 

“I’m obviously going to focus on my own interest in Angelyn before I focus on yours, Paris. You’re smart, you should know this!”

 

“You’re smart, you should know this!” A feminine voice with a strange accent said tauntingly.

 

Paris and Elijah immediately quit arguing, and after a brief look at each other for moral support, they looked out into the darkness of the hallway.

 

“Who’s there?” Paris called out.

 

A beautiful woman in a red gown stepped out into the torch, her blonde hair cascading past her shoulders and down her back.

 

“ _Bonjour_ , my sweets,” she called out. “I heard you boys arguing, and well, I just had to hurry over here to make sure nothing was wrong!”

 

“Who are you?” Elijah asked.

 

“I’m Tatiana,” the woman smiled.

 

“And what story are you from?” Paris asked.

 

Tatiana laughed. “It’s so incredible that there’s a story out there that’s all about _moi._ I can’t possibly remember what the book is called at this hour, but my last name is Cahill.”

 

“So you’re from The 39 Clues? Which branch?” Elijah inquired.

 

“Oh, does it matter?” Tatiana asked.

 

Elijah and Paris both nodded.

 

“ _Vous deux êtes horribles!_ ” she pouted. “The one with the snake emblem, I’m sure you two realize that at two in the morning, a lady’s mind cannot function.”

 

Elijah and Paris shared another look, but decided to believe her story.

 

“Why are you wandering the hallways so late at night?” Paris asked.

 

“If you’re lost, you can count on us to show you back to your room,” Elijah added.

 

“What I’m doing… Well, I can assure you, I’m far from lost, children.” Tatiana said mysteriously.

 

Then, before either of them could react, Tatiana quickly stepped behind Paris, and produced a shard of glass in her hand, which she quickly pressed to Paris’s throat. “It might just be because my side is more put together than yours, but typically, you don’t start pointless arguments with your friends.” Tatiana told them. “And I know you boys are out of bed when you’re not supposed to be, Bella told me the rules here at Hogwarts.” Tatiana snarled.

 

“H-Hang on a moment, I know you, Nico mentioned you, you’re called… the Countess, right?” Elijah stammered, stalling to try and save Paris.

 

Tatiana smiled. “Bravo! Well done, _ma cher_. As a matter of fact, I was only breaking into Hogwarts to gather intel on the layout and kidnap Nico again, but I happened to run across you two! And this is so much more delicious then kidnapping the same boy I’ve already taken before.”

 

“And w-what exactly are y-you planning to do?” 

 

“The master said not to kill you or any of Henry or Hermione’s friends, but personally, I feel we will all be a lot safer with you all out of our hair,” Tatiana smiled, pressing the glass more closely into Paris so a little bit of blood ran down his neck.

 

“Leave him alone!” Elijah shouted, raising his voice, something unusual for him.

 

“ _Incroyable!_ The quiet one finally raises his voice! Mal always did go on about how there _had_ to be something more behind your quiet demeanor.”

 

“Please. Just let me go,” Paris said, barely audible.

 

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Elijah agreed.

 

Tatiana gestured with her free hand to emphasize that she was thinking. “But weren’t you two boys just fighting? And over a girl! _Vilain, vilain!_ I didn’t marry my first husband until I was at least 16.”

 

“But you’re 16 now,” Elijah muttered.

 

“Magic is a very powerful thing. Tatiana Serena Alexandra Ruskin, at your service,” Tatiana laughed mockingly. “I’m older and wiser than you _enfants_ would ever believe!”

 

“If you’re truly old and wise, you’ve got to see letting Paris go won’t hurt anyone. We’ll promise never to harm you,” Elijah begged.

 

“While you two make a delightful offer, there’s a certain thrill to-“

 

“We may have been arguing, but that doesn’t mean I want Paris did, let him go!” Elijah shouted, cutting her off.

 

“Shut up!” Tatiana snarled, removing the glass from Paris’s throat and throwing him to the floor, where he gasped desperately for breath. “No one, and I mean no one has the right to interrupt me, the Countess, in the middle of a sentence,” Tatiana warned, stalking forward.

 

Tatiana threw out a hand, using magic to slam Elijah up against the cold stone wall of the castle, knocking the breath out of him. “Do you understand me?”

 

Elijah nodded frantically, struggling to catch his breath.

 

“Please,” Paris pleaded from the floor. “Just leave us alone.”

 

“Leave you alone?” Tatiana exclaimed. “This is a rare treat, not just one but two of Henry’s friends in the same place! Bella and Mal both had chances to take out of all of you, but they were too dumb to actually do it. But now that I finally am alone with some of you? I know what I’m doing, and I will single handily allow V-, no, us to win this war.”

 

Tatiana waved a hand, and another piece of glass appeared.

 

Paris shakily rose to his feet, a hand over his neck. “Elijah was right, we won’t bother you!”

 

“Promises mean nothing in a war like this,” Tatiana cautioned. “But… I suppose I have been convinced of something, _mes garçons._ ”

 

Elijah and Paris looked at her hopefully.

 

Tatiana smiled a coy little smile, then suddenly hurled the piece of glass at Elijah, which struck him right in the heart. Paris shouted loudly as Elijah put his hand over his chest, then slowly slid down the stone wall, collapsing in a heap on the floor.

 

“Tata. I do look forward to our next meeting, Paris,” Tatiana winked. Then she quickly ran down the hallway, away from her dirty work, the sound of her high heels clicking on the floor getting fainter and fainter the further away she got.

 

Paris went to Elijah’s side, and looked at the wound. He flinched at the sight of all the blood.

 

“Elijah, how do I help you?” Paris begged.

 

Elijah responded by coughing up blood.

 

“Please Elijah, stay with me,” Paris sobbed. “I didn’t mean any of it, you can have Angelyn, I don’t even care anymore as long as you stay with me!”

 

“I… I just… I just wanted to see this war through… so I could… see my aunt and brother again,” Elijah gasped, an alarming pool of blood forming beneath him.

 

“You will, you will,” Paris said, desperate. “As long as you don’t die on me here, I promise you, you will see them again!”

 

Elijah didn’t respond.

 

Paris grabbed Elijah’s hand. “Please Elijah!”

 

Elijah gave one last shuddering gasp, then Paris felt his hand go limp. Paris broke into full on tears, hunched over Elijah’s corpse, shuddering and clutching his hand, the two illuminated only by the solitary torch burning in the hallway.

 

An hour passed, Paris unwilling to release Elijah’s hand, which had long ago gone cold. Eventually, Paris rose, his face streaked by tears.

 

“I will get you, Tatiana, if it is the last thing I do,” he promised. “I will avenge Elijah.”

 

“You better,” a voice said.

 

Paris turned around quickly, and gasped when he saw a translucent version of Elijah.

 

“E-Elijah?” Paris gasped.

 

The ghost of Elijah nodded.

 

“But how? T-This isn’t possible!”

 

“Guess I had some unfinished business,” Elijah shrugged. “Gotta see this war through and visit Aunt Rhea and Richie.”

 

Paris smiled at Elijah. “I’m so glad… I’m so glad that you’re not truly gone.”

 

Elijah didn’t smile back. “I- I’m not sure how I feel about… being a ghost. What this means for my future.’

 

“You’ll figure it out. I’ll help you,” Paris promised.

 

“I just… I need some alone time, Paris,” Elijah said quietly. 

 

Paris thought for a moment, then nodded with a tight smile. “Yeah. Of course.”

 

Elijah nodded at Paris, then flew straight through the ceiling to the floor above. Paris could have sworn he heard the start of a sob.

 

It was at that point that a Hufflepuff first year girl walked down the hall, saw Elijah’s corpse, and started screaming.

 

As the girl’s scream echoed through the halls, waking up everyone in the castle, Paris could only think of one thing. Rachel’s prophecy. 

 

_…FIVE BECOMES FOUR AND FOUR BECOMES THREE…_

 

They’d used to think Matthias had counted the fifth, but after he’d shown his face again, Paris wasn’t sure wether the prophecy meant actual deaths or just leaving their group. Either way, they’d just lost Elijah, either starting this part of the prophecy, or ending it. He knew, deep down, that Rachel didn't deliver that prophecy in front of their group for no reason. No matter how much he denied it, Paris felt that it meant his group of friends. Not any of the countless others gathering for the upcoming war.

 

Before Paris knew what was happening, the hallway he was in was full of people craning their necks to get a look at what had happened. No one was entirely sure of how to react to a corpse lying on the ground, especially one of the hero’s friends. News had spread quickly, and everyone regarded the four of them differently. Now that one was dead… they wouldn’t appear to be quite as immortal.

 

Paris looked into the crowd, past nightgowns and rumpled shirts, and his eyes landed on Marya’s tired face. She pushed her way through the crowd, then stopped short when she saw Elijah. Marya looked slowly to Paris and blinked slowly.

 

She tapped the shoulder of the person next to her. “Am I… am I dreaming?”

 

Paris didn’t listen to her reply, as just then, he heard Angelyn’s voice. “Let me through, please, I need to know what’s going on!”’

 

Paris turned towards it, and saw Angelyn parting the crowd, hurrying forward. Angelyn looked once at Paris’s grief-stricken face, then her eyes dropped to the floor. To Elijah’s corpse.

 

Angelyn howled in grief, and crumpled to her knees. She reached out, and clawed at Paris’s pajama leggings, tears running down her face. “Did you do it? What did you do to Elijah?!” she shrieked.

 

Paris looked at her in shock. This was Angelyn, the girl who never cries. “I-I di-didn’t!”

 

“Tell me the truth, Paris, I always knew there was something up with the way you acted towards me, but this confirms it! What is it, did you just stab him? Did you rage and hatred finally boil over? I will kill you, don’t you doubt-“ 

 

McGonagall cut her off by quickly stepping through crowd and casting a quick charm that knocked her out. “In the morning… she’ll be more reasonable,” she assured Paris. “It’s just the grief talking, not her.”

 

She waved her wand again, summoning two floating stretchers. She magicked Elijah onto one, and Angelyn onto another, then gestured for Marya and I to follow her. We did as she asked, leaving the shocked crowd between us in the dim hallway, the lone torch only illuminating the blood left behind on the stone floor.

 

“Paris, I understand that it may be hard for you to speak about this right now, but who did this?” McGonagall asked as they walked briskly down the hallway.

 

“She called herself… Tatiana,” Paris muttered, his mind still reeling from Angelyn’s accusations.

 

“Angelyn mentioned her once…” Marya added. “The… it was the Countess, she said. From the Emerald Atlas.”

 

“Thank you,” McGonagall nodded. She stopped, then turned around to look Paris and Marya in the eyes. “Dumbledore and I are going to figure out how this Tatiana got inside Hogwarts, and once we do, we’ll seal it off. I promise you, you two and Angelyn will be protected here. Everyone will.”

 

She waved her wand, and the stretchers started moving again, which she walked briskly after.

 

“You… you might want to put a guard on Nico. Tatiana said she came here for him,” Paris said quietly.

 

“We’ll get on that,” McGonagall promised.

 

Soon enough, they entered the Hospital Wing. The stretcher carrying Elijah went into a separate room, and Angelyn’s gently deposited her on a bed.

 

Madam Pomfrey hurried past, clutching a stack of folding chairs, which she shoved into Paris’s arms rather abruptly. Paris set them up, all three of them, there being one more then what was actually needed.

 

Marya and Paris watched as Madam Pomfrey poured a variety of potions into Angelyn’s mouth, all of which they guessed helped with intense feelings of grief. Eventually, Marya fell asleep in her chair, but Paris stayed awake, making sure poor Angelyn slept alright. 

 

After a time, Elijah floated in through the door, and took the open seat next to Paris. The two didn’t exchange any words, and instead sat there, keeping a silent vigil, until the sun rose in the morning.


	21. Katniss and Olivia

After stepping through that strange mist, Olivia found herself tumbling through a strange white void. She couldn’t say how much time had passed in there, it could have been minutes, it could have been years. There was no way for her to tell. Voices echoed around her as she tumbled, little snippets of conversations she could just barely hear, strange music, at one point even the sound of church bells.

 

When Olivia finally exited, the mist expelled her violently outward, and she landed on her stomach in a considerably younger looking forest than the one surrounding the Graywood Institute. Olivia gasped when she hit the cold ground, the breath completely knocked out of her. After a minute, she shakily pulled herself to a sitting position on the forest floor, clutching her knees to her chest to try and maintain some heat against the bitterly cold bite of the air.

 

She looked around wildly, the sound of the wind in the leaves and the birds chirping overwhelming compared to the muted sounds of the void she’d just left. Olivia ran a shaky hand through her blonde hair, then attempted to rub the wrinkles out of the hospital gown that was currently her only piece of clothing.

 

After a minute or two, Olivia got up, and was able to keep her footing. She turned around to where the mist had been, and saw… nothing. Olivia gasped, and waved frantically at the air where the mist had hung a few minutes ago. Nothing happened but a weird red afterimage produced of her hands, probably a side effect of the mist.

 

Ari was still trapped back at the asylum, and was probably suffering after helping Olivia escape.

Olivia let out a sob. She’d recklessly ran into a mist, having no idea what it was capable of, and now she had no idea where she was and had lost her only friend throughout the whole mess she’d been caught up in recently. The government was even less likely to believe this story.

 

Olivia suddenly heard voices, so she quickly covered her mouth to prevent more sobs, then ducked behind the nearest tree. Could they be Graywood employees? Had she just totally missed out on whatever happened in that mist?

 

“…we take to the woods and make a run for it,” the first voice suggested, a girl.

 

Olivia now had her doubts about this being a Graywood employee.

 

“Okay, let’s run away,” said the second, clearly male.

 

“Really?” You don’t think I’m mad? You’ll go with me?” the first voice asked again.

 

Olivia attempted to get a better look by shifting her position so she could look out from behind the tree. Something about those two voices struck her as familiar. In the process of moving, Olivia’s foot hit an exposed tree root, and she tripped, landing on her stomach at the two’s feet. They immediately halted their conversation, and bent over to look at me.

 

They were two Olivia recognized from movies, from books. Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne.

 

Olivia’s immediate response was to start laughing. There was no way the government was going to believe a story including Maleficent, Katniss, a freaky insane asylum, and some weird teleporting mist. She was screwed.

 

Katniss and Gale panicked. Gale pulled out a bag he usually used for game, and threw it over Olivia’s head.

 

“What do we do?” Katniss said quickly.

 

“We’ll take her to your house in the seam, and question her there. The Capitol can’t know what we were planning,” Gale muttered.

 

Olivia’s replies were muffled by the bag, and before she knew it, she was being hustled down the snowy cobblestone streets of District 12. She didn’t get to see her surroundings, but Olivia knew it was early morning because the streets were silent.

 

Before she knew it, Olivia heard a door opening with a creak, then she was slammed into a dusty chair, and the bag was ripped off her head. Olivia had no time to process her surroundings as Katniss and Gale immediately hit her with a barrage of questions.

 

“Are you working for the Capitol?”

 

“How did you get into the forest?”

 

“What’s a small girl like you doing all alone?”

 

“Do you know who President Snow is?”

 

“Who even are you?”

 

Olivia thought for a moment, then decided to reply to the questions she actually knew the answers to. 

 

“Uh… hi?” Olivia stammered, not entirely sure if any of this was real. “I’m Olivia Terry. I’ve heard of President Snow, but I’ve never actually met him. So… I’m totally not working for the Capitol.”

 

“Okay, Olivia, I’m Katniss, this is Gale. Explain to us why we should trust you,” Katniss said, crossing her arms.

 

Olivia sighed deeply. How was she supposed to explain something like that? Didn’t help that she was only here thanks to the help of some really freaky mist.

 

“Honestly… I don’t even know how to explain to you guys that you should trust me,” Olivia said quietly. She looked into Katniss and Gale’s eyes. “I honestly don’t even know where I am completely.”

 

“How would you not know where you are? This is Panem. That’s all there is,” Gale said, exasperated. “I’m calling it Katniss, she’s a Capitol spy and you and I and maybe even that baker of yours are all going to end up dead.”

 

“A little girl like her? The Capitol is evil, Gale, but it hasn’t fallen enough to use children for espionage.”

 

Olivia raised her hand, then waved once she got their attention. “I’m still sitting like, right here, in case you forgot. I’m here because I walked through this weird mist, okay? Ever since then, I’ve been clueless about everything going on. That’s why I was in the forest, that’s where the mist left me.”

 

“Okay, how’s that possible?” Gale asked.

 

“I don’t know!” Olivia shouted. She then put her head in her hands. Everything was so overwhelming, she almost wished she was back in that thoughtless mist.

 

“Gale, I feel like she’s telling the truth,” Katniss said.

 

Gale frowned. “Really? You believe in this weird mist story?”

 

“Olivia here sounds like she believes it, so I’m going to trust for now that she knows what she saw. I’m going to take her to my mother so we can try to keep this quiet. The Capitol wouldn’t like this,” Katniss argued. She patted Olivia on the back, then helped her out of the chair.

 

“I want to believe her Katniss, I really do, I just need proof,” Gale insisted.

 

“Then go look for some! I’m going to take her to my mom either way. I’d love some proof too, there’s a lot I’d enjoy that just can’t happen right now,” Katniss went on. “Come on, Olivia.”

 

Katniss and Olivia walked through District 12, the city just starting to wake up around them. Windows started to light up, adding a little warmth to the cold gray that District 12 was in the winter. By the time the two reached the Victor’s Village, people were on their way to work behind them.

 

Katniss lead Olivia up the steps that lead to her mansion in the Victor’s Village, then pushed open the wooden door. “Mom?” Katniss called out into the house.

 

Her mom was there almost immediately, a woman with yellow hair pinned into a loose bun.

 

“Katniss, who’s this?” her mom asked. “There’s some people who want to speak to you in the dining room, so it really isn’t the best time for visitors…”

 

“That’s Olivia, and from what I can see, she’s no ordinary visitor. Keep an eye on her, alright?” Katniss called out behind her as she headed for the dining room.

 

Olivia and Mrs. Everdeen stood there in awkward silence for around 15 seconds before Katniss learned around the corner at the end of the room. “Oh, and be careful, mom. Not sure if I trust her yet.”

 

Mrs. Everdeen coughed awkwardly, then said “You have a lovely name, Olivia.”

 

“Thank you,” Olivia muttered.

 

“Would you like something to eat?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Olivia shrugged.

 

Mrs. Everdeen nodded, and Olivia followed her into the kitchen.

 

As Mrs. Everdeen opened up a cabinet, and pulled out a package of cookies, Olivia tried to peer through the archway that led into the dining room that Katniss was in. She was able to glimpse Katniss’s long braid, and a girl with flowing hair in a pink hoodie, but not much else.

 

“Want some milk too?” Mrs. Everdeen asked, distracting Olivia.

 

“Yes please,” Olivia smiled.

 

Olivia sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen, and Mrs. Everdeen placed a plate in front of Olivia, the rim decorated with a motif of roses. The glass of milk was placed right next to it.

 

Mrs. Everdeen looked on expectantly as Olivia reached for a cookie.

 

 Olivia took a bite, and her eyes opened wide. “Mrs. Everdeen, this has got to be the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life. And listen, I had a friend, and she… her mom made some really… great cookies.”

 

Mrs. Everdeen didn’t know wether to be pleased or concerned, so instead she just nodded and smiled, then pretended to be busy at the stove.

 

Olivia mentally berated herself. She couldn’t let the loss of all of her friends ruin every good conversation she had. Sure, Lorie’s cookies had ruled, but that’s not the kind of thing you bring up while enjoying someone else’s. Especially when her daughter, Angelyn, was still missing from the last Olivia had heard. She’d spent way too long in that freaking asylum, and has no idea how long she’d been in that weird portal thing. For all she knew, she’d been in there long enough to actually see the hunger games or some twisted version of it actually occur in the natural course of human history. Sure, it sounded crazy, but seeing how well loved the series was she could see it becoming an actual thing years in the future.

 

“I- I’m sorry, Mrs. Everdeen,” Olivia said. “Sometimes stuff just hits me, and I react.”

 

Mrs. Everdeen shook her head. “Katniss is the same way, memories from the Hunger Games haunt her dreams, the screams wake me up. Don’t apologize for what isn't your fault.”

 

Olivia smiled up at Mrs. Everdeen, the first real smile she’d smiled since talking with Ari before escaping the asylum. “Thank you. I honestly really needed to hear that.”

 

“Of course,” Mrs. Everdeen nodded. “Katniss may have told me not to trust you, but I disagree with her. I’ll find you some clothes other than that hospital gown.”

 

“That’d be so great. I’ve been absolutely freezing to death for the time that I’ve been here.”

 

Mrs. Everdeen gave a pitiful look to the wrinkled piece of fabric Olivia was wearing. “I can see why.” She then left the kitchen, leaving Olivia alone with her cookies and milk.

 

Olivia took another bite of a cookie, and thought. If she was stuck here in Panem, she’d have to enter the reaping. What a chilling thought.

 

Hearing the muttered voices from the dining room, Olivia decided to take a closer look. She picked up the plate and the glass of milk, and walked to the archway that separated the kitchen from the dining room. When looking into the room, she saw a familiar figure that shook her to her core.

 

Henry.

 

Olivia calmly walked back into the kitchen and placed the cookies and milk down before charging into the dining room. “Henry,” she snarled. “Here to finish the job?”

 

Katniss jumped, then looked at Henry. “What is this? You two know each other? Are you both Capitol spies?”

 

The girl in the pink jacket Olivia had seen earlier looked at Olivia, then looked back at Henry, the two seeming to somehow have a quick mental conversation.

 

“Katniss, no, we’re not Capitol spies, we’re here for the reason that we told you, Snow and all these other villains are planning-“ the girl in the pink jacket reasoned in her British accent.

 

“Villains? These two are the villains, they attacked my school!” Taking a closer look, Olivia started to laugh. “Oh, please, I can’t believe this. You’re fucking Hermione, aren’t you?”

 

The girl’s shocked expression was all Olivia needed for confirmation.

 

“My report to the police gets more and more insane every day!” Olivia exclaimed dramatically. “On top of Maleficent attacking my school and you setting fire to my school with your hand, on top of the freaking portal and somehow ending up in Panem, Hermione is somehow in on this twisted plan!”

 

Henry looked ready to reply, but Olivia didn't give him chance.

 

“Let me guess. After killing Angelyn and Matthias and Paris and literally everyone else through Bellatrix or whatnot, you sought out Greg and got rid of him for protecting me and Ari, then your plan to keep me and Ari forever trapped in the Graywood Institute for the Criminally Insane backfired when Ari helped me escape, and now she’s dead too. And now that I’m the only one left alive, you’ve gotta get rid of me too.” Olivia ranted. “I’m not going down without a fight you monsters!”

 

“What’s going on here?” Katniss shouted. 

 

It was then that Mrs. Everdeen walked in with the clothes for Olivia, stopping cold when she saw the conflict that was brewing.

 

“This is all just a big misunderstanding,” Henry said slowly.

 

“Big misunderstanding? My ass. Tell me the truth before you kill me,” Olivia said, crossing her arms. “And start at the very beginning.”

 

“Well, we’re twins,” Hermione said.

 

“Since when? Why weren’t you at Northridge? Why wasn't Henry at Hogwarts?” Olivia demanded.

 

“We were separated at birth,” Henry went on. “And I never attacked the school, the whole point of that fire was for it to harm no one and give me chance to meet up with Hermione because all these villains from multiple stories are forming alliances to set the whole world on fire!”

 

“Yeah right. You honestly expect me to believe something as insane as that? I’m still pretty sure that in no time I’m gonna wake up and realize this was just a very long and complex dream.”

 

“But this isn’t a dream, Olivia. You’ve gotta realize that,” Henry said sadly.

 

Hermione launched into some longwinded explanation about the world being totally annihilated if all these heroes didn’t unite and take these already united villains down for both Katniss and I’s benefit, Mrs. Everdeen having placed the clothes next to the cookies and left a while back. Henry then added his part, explaining that everyone but Matthias was still okay, as he was murdered back when the rest of our group was being held hostage. It didn’t surprise Olivia, as she expected all of them to be dead, but she was still saddened.

 

“…and, to answer the last of your questions, I don’t have any idea where Greg is,” Henry finished. “How did you make it out, Olivia?”

 

Olivia explained everything in a quiet voice, everyone in the room hanging onto every word she spoke. Henry and Hermione looked progressively more shocked that Olivia had survived everything, while Katniss looked more and more relaxed, as she realized there was no way a Capitol spy would cook up such a hard to believe story.

 

When Olivia was finished, Katniss nodded slowly, a small grin on her face. “You know what? You’ve got me convinced. I’ll go fetch everyone else who could be useful.”

 

Olivia slipped into the bathroom to change into the clothes Mrs. Everdeen had left for her, a white jacket, a stripped shirt, and a pair of jeans, as well as some nice sneakers. After admiring the new outfit in the mirror, Olivia walked back out into the dining room, where Henry and Hermione now sat at the wooden table in the center of the room.

 

“Do you have any idea who the person wearing this black outfit could have been? Time travel through portal is incredibly hard to do, I’m not ever going to talk about the deals that Hermione and I had to make to get a trip here and back for the small group we’re taking to Hogwarts,” Henry asked.

 

Olivia shook her head.

 

“Just another mystery we need to solve,” Henry sighed.


End file.
